Welcome to Phoenix Alternative
Phoenix is an Alternative High School within the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. We are a small Secondary III, IV, V school that focuses not only on academic growth but personal growth as well.
Our program is designed for high school students who would thrive in an alternative setting and who are capable of obtaining a secondary school diploma.
As a small secondary school, we do not offer advanced-level mathematics and science. However, our dedicated guidance counsellor and staff members will help you explore options to attain those credits if they are needed.
One of the core beliefs of Phoenix Alternative is the notion of a fresh start. We believe that students deserve an opportunity to learn from their experiences; each day is viewed as a new beginning. Throughout the year, a dedicated and caring staff work with each student to help guide and support them in achieving their personal, social, and academic goals, while holding students accountable for their choices. We hope that every student who enters Phoenix Alternative will leave with confidence in their abilities, a knowledge of themselves and with a clear vision of their future goals.
We are committed to providing students with a safe and welcoming environment to help them grow as individuals. When you become a Phoenix Alternative student, you become a member of the Phoenix Alternative Family. This growing community is a place where students can feel safe enough to be themselves and not fear being judged by others. As a family, we value respect for each other, our school, and our surroundings.
We are committed to creating a school that feels more like a family, albeit a large one. This is done by prioritizing positive and mentoring relationships with our students. The dedicated school team works to foster and maintain a caring and supportive environment.
We plan frequent school outings where we leave the school together, play, learn, and eat together. All of our outings are accompanied with either restaurant, or boxed lunches provided by the school. These outings provide students with educational experiences and opportunities to connect with other students and the staff.
Every week we have our Friday Phoenix Feast. This allows students and staff to try local ethnic
cuisines. This Feast is an opportunity to sit as a family and enjoy each other’s company.
We have mixed grade levels in the core subjects: This allows students to get to know each other and truly become a part of the Phoenix Family. This helps create long-lasting bonds with peers.
We believe in a non-punitive approach: Students are expected to make mistakes, own them, and learn from them. There is no detention room, no suspensions and an unlimited supply of fresh starts.
Phoenix has a multi-sensory Snoezelen Room, also known as our Zen Room. This space provides students with a safe and relaxing opportunity to take a step back, breathe and explore available therapeutic tools.
We are committed to keeping our classroom sizes small. This promotes individualized learning and allows for a low student-teacher ratio which enriches the learning experience.
We offer a program with an emphasis on character education
The Phoenix Alternative program begins in Secondary III. Students must have passed Cycle I secondary (Secondary II) to be accepted. Each application is reviewed on an individual basis, and in all cases, an interview is required. Students must have the academic potential to achieve a high school leaving diploma.
Registration for Phoenix Alternative begins in June, although student intake is continuous throughout the year. We have a maximum capacity of approximately 60 students. This capacity is usually met by fall, however spaces do become available throughout the year.
For more information please do not hesitate to contact us through Facebook, Instagram or by phone at 450-680-3036.
We look forward to welcoming you into the Phoenix Family!
In 1981, Phoenix Alternative was created. Inspired by the vision of the Teachers’ Union and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, the tenets of the Phoenix experience is the understanding that our students need compassion and understanding. In honouring the legacy, our commitment is to support our students and believe in them, especially when they have not yet found the courage to believe in themselves.
THE LEGEND: THE PHOENIX IN US ALL
“Another profound and universal symbol of transformation comes to us in the ancient legend of the phoenix. That legend can be found, in one version or another, in many countries, including Egypt, Persia, Greece, China, and Ireland. It tells of an amazing bird who, at a ripe old age, builds a nest for itself, ignites it, and is consumed by the fire. From the ashes of its own ending, a new phoenix emerges.
All these traditions and many more are meant to remind us that we, too, are engaged in a continual dance of transformation as our outworn understandings, possessions, habits, relationships, as well as ways of being give way to new ones. When an ending comes knocking, you need not fear.
Honour it and know that you, too, have the phoenix inside of you.”
Excerpted from chapter 10 of Honour Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving by Patricia Spadaro