As 2016 comes to a close it's time for the Foothills School Division to reflect on the past year.

Utility work officially began on the new K-9 school along 32nd Street in Okotoks and the potential for new school developments came up for High River's Spitzee Crossing development as well as the new D'Arcy community and Wind Walk development in Okotoks.

John Bailey, superintendent for FSD, says a partnership made this year has been helpful in planning for the future.

"We were part of setting up what we call regional planning for school sites for Okotoks so we're partnering with Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, FrancoSud, the Town of Okotoks, and the MD of Foothills to try to plan ahead to make sure there is appropriate planning for school sites as the town continues to grow."

He says he's also looking forward to continuing the partnership with Stoney First Nation.

"We started a capacity/collaborative partnership with them for our First Nations, Metis, and Inuit students and we're focused on strategies and supports for those students. We look forward to that continuing to grow. We work quite closely with Eden Valley and other bands."

Safety is always a priority for the division which shone through this year with upgrades recently being announced for security cameras in schools.

Success in safety also came through with transportation.

"Our buses travel over 2 million kilometres a year and the last year we've had no major accidents at all involving students on buses and we're very thankful for that and certainly thank our drivers and their dedication for that work."

Another highlight is FSD's top scoring with Provincial Achievement Test results as their high school completion rate sits 10% above the provincial average at 86.1% with a drop out rate of 1.9%.

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