Bloomington High School North

This afternoon we travelled about 35 minutes to the north fo the city to the school we will partner with. Bloomington High School North has about 1650 students and was founded in 1972. The interior of the buildings was redone and this finished in 2005. The classrooms are modern and well appointed. The classrooms are arranged in 'pods' clusters of rooms based on subjects. A teacher prep. room for all teachers in the pod are is in the centre. The school is vast with excellent facilities: 25 meter swimming pool inside with diving/water polo extra; own indoor gym - note the seating around the gym that can be pulled out and put away again easily to increase space; an auditorium that is like a city picture theatre and music rooms and space and space and. The school works on an 8 period block timetable. The students do four subjects one day and another 4 the next (making the eight). The subjects are Science, English, Mathematics, Social Studies and one other language. The remaining three are elective subjects and can be arts, physical education (weight training/conditioning is one), technology etc. Sport is very big at the school as are the arts. The 4 period days are 80 minutes long: 2 periods in the morning a break then 1 period, then lunch and one period in the afternoon. The students also have a homeroom time called 'cougar den' (the cougar is the schools emblem animal) for 40 mimnutes on a Monday, but on T, W, Th, Fr they have a tutorial time for all in the school. Teachers can put students into tutorials and the students MUST attend. The students may be put there based on not being able to complete set work, missed assessments or who are in need of remedial support.