Our School

Welcome to Jack James High School

We serve students from all across Calgary. We are a state of the art, personalized learning community with an emphasis on providing authentic, engaging, hands on, and practical opportunities for all learners. Our students are supported and encouraged to achieve their very best academically and personally each and every day. We provide extensive support for student transition from high school to the workplace or post-secondary institutions.

Welcome Students and Parents/Guardians to the Jack James High School Family!

The staff at Jack James High School are committed to providing you with the opportunity to learn and grow in the most supportive and caring environment we can offer.  Our focus is on helping students achieve to their fullest potential through identifying each students strengths and encouraging personal growth and development.  We will strive to help you gain the skills and behaviors necessary to succeed in your career direction and your life.  Our hope is that you find your passion and move into the world outside school knowing your strengths and talents and are prepared to meet the many challenges of an independent and worthwhile lifestyle.

Pride, Perseverance and Integrity are strong values that Jack James High School holds as standards.

Pride | You must be proud of who you are and what you are a part of.

Perseverance | You must endure all hurdles and roadblocks to reach your dreams.

Integrity | You must strive to do what’s best and right, for you and the community.

As a community of learners, our hope is that we all create a safe, and caring learning community.  With the work of a team of supports, including student, parents/guardians, school and outside community, we can all contribute to helping the students become strong contributing citizens of the larger global community.  We understand that learning does not always come easy, and that mistakes are part of the learning process, so we talk about “owning our responsibility”, and “fixing our mistakes or impact on others”.  We wish that all of our students will make the decision to succeed, make good decisions and consider the consequences of actions.  We would like our students to feel the strength of controlling the direction of their lives.  We ask that each student strives to do well in school, so that they have many options after graduation and can realize their full potential.  We require that students commit to daily and regular attendance for personal success and to gain an understanding of the protocols for safety of themselves and others in the school/shop environment.

We look forward to our work together as a team in creating a strong, safe and caring community, not only in the school, but in the neighbourhoods that our students live and interact in, as well as the larger global community.  As partners in this pursuit, please communicate with us at any time, as we welcome your comments, recommendations and support.

Your Admin Team

At Jack James High School we commit to:

  • Treating every student with dignity and respect,
  • Creating welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments
  • Developing a caring, respectful community of learners,
  • Finding effective ways to develop and deliver curriculum and  address the diverse learning needs of our students,
  • Fostering student responsibility while providing fresh starts and additional opportunities

The Jag Code 

C aring 
O pportunities 
U nderstanding 
R espect 
A chievement 
G rowing 
E ducation 

Caring | We are all responsible for making our environment a safe and caring place. 

Opportunities | We recognize the many opportunities that exist within our school community, and we always present our school in a positive manner. 

Understanding | We are understanding of our community’s differences. We celebrate the talents, values and uniqueness of every individual while recognizing the challenges each of us faces. 

Respect | Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. We respect the opinions of others, their right to an education, their property and our school environment. 

Achievement | Individually and with the assistance of others, we work to achieve our goals. 

Growing | We are growing in our ability to deal with our conflicts in a constructive, non-violent manner, and we seek help from others when issues are too large to cope with alone. 

Education | We value our education and pursue it with pride, perseverance and integrity.

Jack James School’s Partnerships

Jack James High School focuses on employability, academic and vocational success. To that end, the school has developed ongoing relationships with a number of businesses. The school is formally partnered with Homes by Avi.

About the School Name

The school was named after John Wesley (Jack) James who during his educational career he worked as a teacher, assistant principal, administrative assistant to the superintendent, and, in 1961, superintendent of secondary schools. Until his retirement in 1973, he piloted the secondary department through a period of unprecedented growth in student population, school construction, and curriculum development. Jack James is known and admired for his compassion for people; his ever-calm and fair-minded approach to students, staff, and the community at large has won him a reputation as a progressive educator, highly respected for the integrity and dignity he always brought to his position.

School History

Jack James High School stands as an enduring monument to the vision which John Wesley (Jack) James had for public education in Calgary: that the needs of students be served. His focus on “the student in the classroom” led to the provision of many trend-setting programs for the academically gifted and the vocationally oriented. His untiring efforts led to the establishment of three secondary schools in Calgary, and it is our school, the third one which bears his name. Jack James High School opened in 1982.

Jack James began his teaching career in 1932 in small rural schools in Alberta, and moved to Calgary some years later. In Calgary he served as a teacher, Principal and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent of Secondary Schools. Until his retirement in 1973 he guided the Secondary Department (Junior High Schools, Secondary Schools and Senior High Schools) through a period of unprecedented growth in student population, school construction, and curriculum development. He was highly regarded as an effective, dedicated, and innovative educator.

Our school bears a fine name and as a community of students and teachers we dedicate ourselves to be a school which will carry on the vision of Jack James.

A Skills Canada School 

Skills Canada Alberta competitions take place yearly and provide opportunities for students to participate in competitions related to trade and technology-based careers. Jack James High School encourages and supports student participation at the school, city, province and national level.

A School of Choice for:

  • Students needing a personalized pathways approach to learning which includes access to a variety of trades and technologies.
  • Students needing additional support to complete their high school education.
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​​​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 TRC Commitment to Action. On June 21, we renewed our commitment, which can be found under Resources.​​

Acknowledging the Land

We would like to acknowledge the traditional territories and oral practices of the Blackfoot Nations, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani and the Kainai. We also acknowledge the Tsuut’ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations, the Métis Nation, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.​​

​​​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.​​​

​​​​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​.
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