Nisga'a Elementary Secondary School (NESS) is a public

K-12 school K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...

Gitlaxt'aamiks, British Columbia Gitlax̱t'aamiks , formerly New Aiyansh , is a Nisga'a village about north of Terrace, in the heart of the Nass River valley, Canada. It is one of four Nisga'a villages. Though it is located in British Columbia, it is also considered the "capit ...

, Canada. NESS is operated by

School District 92 Nisga'a School District 92 Nisga'a is a school district in British Columbia, Canada. Situated in the Nass River valley it covers the First Nations area of the Nisga'a people north of Terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial t ...

. It is the elementary school for Gitlaxt'aamiks as well as the designated secondary school for the area of the

Nisga'a The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga'a language as (pronounced ), are an Indigenous people of Canada in British Columbia. They reside in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. The name is a ...

people in the Nass Valley, including the communities of Gitlaxt'aamiks (New Aiyansh), Gitwinksihlkw (Canyon City), Laxgalts'ap (Greenville), Gingolx (Kincolith), and surrounding settlements. Secondary grades-level students from outside of Gitlaxt'aamiks are bussed to the school each day. In 2010 ninety-eight percent (98%) of students in the district were

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

, primarily Nisga’a and others from northwestern British Columbia. In 2010–2011, 36.4% were classified as English as a second language (

ESL English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...

) students. In addition to core academic and physical education subjects, NESS offers courses in

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

and in the Nisga'a language. Since 2002, a high percentage of students have not met the school district's academic targets. Missed targets are in key areas such as mathematics, language, and school completion. In the 2001–2011 academic years, 50.1% of NESS students graduated. To address these problems, the school district announced in June, 2012 a district-wide restructuring. This will see NESS transform from serving students in K-12 to serving K-6 and grade 9–12, grade 7-8 classes will move to Laxgalts’ap, and more classes will be single-grade.''School District 92 Sets a New Direction'', Nass Valley News, June 15, 2012
retrieved 2012-08-21.

References

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External links

Fraser Institute School Report Card 2010-11
High schools in British Columbia Nisga'a Educational institutions in Canada with year of establishment missing