Wagmatcook School
Chief Mary L. Bernard
Director of Education Kathleen Pierro
Mi'kmaw Language teachers two
Wagmatcook is located nine kilometers southwest from Baddeck. The number of households in this community is one hundred and thirty-one with a population of five hundred and twenty-three.
Wagmatcook has had local control of education since 1983. The school in Wagmatcook accommodates one hundred and forty-four students from grades Kindergarten to twelve. Another
Wagmatcook School
seventeen children attend daycare and kindergarten in a separate facility. There are six certified teachers in their school system. Approximately forty-one adults attend university on a full time and part-time basis.
At the moment, daycare/kindergarten has an immersion program in place. They intend to expand to elementary as soon as possible provided they have trained staff. The process will be gradual, one grade at a time.
Wagmatcook Daycare
The Director feels that forty minutes per day is adequate to teach the Mi'kmaw language if taught as a first language. She believes that resource people are most crucial in order to effectively teach Mi'kmaw.
The Director feels the community needs a new
school, staffed as much as possible with native educators. At the
present time, they have six native teachers.
| a. Never heard Mi'kmaq spoken at home |
| b. Grand/parents or yourself attended Residential School |
| c. Children attended non-native schools in your area |
| d. Only way to succeed in school was to speak English |
| e. Brought in by a family member from the U.S. |
| f. Neighbours speak English |
| g. Too much English on TV |
| h. Knows the language but afraid to make mistakes |
| i. One of the parents was non-native |
| j. Babysitter was English speaking |
| k. Other |
