Welcome to McKenzie Highlands!
At McKenzie Highlands, our priority is to give students the fullest academic, physical, social, and emotional developmental experiences possible. Our academic, complementary, athletic and citizenship programs provide enormous opportunities for student growth.
Academically, the unique learning styles and needs of individual students are recognized and assignments and projects reflect student voice and choice. As well, students are given opportunities for enrichment and additional support. We believe fundamentally in the importance of “options” for adolescent learners and host a complementary program that offers students the opportunity to take such classes as Drama, Art, Foods, Outdoor Education, Computer Technology, Sports Performance, Fashion Studies, and Leadership over the course of two semesters.
Students are offered extensive choice in their physical education classes and may further access physical developmental opportunities through our intramural program and extra-curricular athletic teams which may include volleyball, soccer, cross-country, basketball, badminton, and track and field.
We wish to maintain close contact with parents and students. Do not hesitate to call us at 403-817-3544 or make an appointment to come in and visit face to face. At McKenzie Highlands, we believe that any success we have with students at school is dependent upon close cooperation with the home. We value parent input and we encourage all parents to be involved in their children’s education – by volunteering at the school, attending our School Council Meetings, discussing school events and activities with your child, and attending parent/teacher/student conferences.
Please check our website for updated school information and we will be sending out regular school messages by e-mail.
We look forward to sharing the McKenzie Highlands experience with you!
McKenzie Highlands Staff
School Name
The significance of the name McKenzie Highlands comes from the community of McKenzie Towne, which has landmarks, roads and neighbourhoods that are named after locations in Scotland. The new school is situated between the communities of Elgin and Inverness, which are named after locations in the Highlands region of Scotland that boasts many mountains and lakes.
Our “Legendary” Story
Welcome to McKenzie Highlands, home of the “Legends”!
Our school opened in September 2016, with a population of 275 students. Today, we sit with a population of almost 830 students!
Our school is built upon the pillars of academics, athletics, artistry, and citizenship. Staff see their primary responsibility to attend to the development of all students across five domains – intellectual, physical, social, emotional, and ethical.
As an authentic middle school, we see our work as supporting students transition from children to that of standing on the cusp of adulthood. A core belief of ours is that students in lower grades should have an experience that closely mirrors their elementary experience while students in the higher grades are exposed to a learning environment that will effectively prepare them for what they will meet in high school. Hence, why we have generalists in grades 4 and 5, two core teachers at grade 6 and 7, and subject specialists in the upper grades.
We believe that learning tasks should be engaging, relevant, and challenging, and incorporate elements of choice. We also know that for some students, challenges present themselves in learning. Hence why we have both literacy and numeracy specialists to provide intentionally targeted support. Additionally, we also have Physical Education specialists, a music specialist, an art specialist, and a full-time counsellor.
Also crucial to the middle school experience is a robust complementary learning program. Our students are offered a wide range of “option” courses in addition to their core program at grades 6 to 9. For some students, these courses can be potentially huge in “sparking” a career interest.
In attending to our other pillars, we have, in just under three years, built an exceptionally strong physical education and athletics program, offer a full band and choral program, stage an annual play, hold an annual talent show, have close to 30 extra-curricular clubs, and afford our students with access to a vast array of field trips to complement their learning experience. Highlighting these experiential learning experiences would be the West Coast sailing trip and the Heritage Trip to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. Additionally, we provide a host of both formal and informal opportunities for students to develop their citizenship capacity. Examples include our leadership classes, mentorship program, and the Principal’s Advisory Council.
We hope that you will choose to share in the “Legendary” experience!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me at 403-817-3544 or email me directly at dwmartin@cbe.ab.ca.
Yours truly,
Daryl Martin
Principal
Our School's Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
We are committed to acknowledging and supporting the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 94 Calls to Action specific to education. Our school, along with all CBE schools, made a Truth and Reconciliation Commitment to Action, on June 21, we renewed our commitment.
View Our Truth and Reconciliation Commitment | 2025-2026
School Development Plan
Each year, our school prepares a development plan with input from teachers, school staff, students and parents. We review many sources of data, including report cards, provincial achievement test results and school surveys. Based on this information, we create our plan identifying targeted areas for growth. Our school development plan is not meant to represent all of the work that takes place in our school, but rather it focuses on specific areas for improvement.
View Our
School Improvement Results Report
Our school also prepares a results plan, which looks at our previous school year. It shows our students’ achievement and progress in meeting the goals and outcomes as set out by the CBE and Alberta Education, outlines some of the highlights of our school development plan and gives an overview of our school. You can look on the CBE website for system-wide results.