School has come to an end for another year.

After more than two years of school closures, remote learning and COVID protocols, schools returned to a somewhat normal school year.

Rainy River District School Board’s Heather Campbell says it meant the return of school activities.

“Certainly, with the reintroduction of extracurriculars, both musical productions, as well as athletics, we saw a lot of our students have some great success this year, and we’re really happy that they felt that they had a really good school year, as well,” says Campbell.

Mostly all students were back in class.

There was no virtual option this year because of the low numbers.

Campbell says they were able to incorporate some of the lessons learned with remote learning.

“We’ve learned a lot from the pandemic and have continued to have a blended learning model within our schools so our staff can post assignments and different activities that have occurred so that students who are sick can still access.”

It was also a busy year for the school board.

A new school was announced for Nestor Falls, while a new K-12 school in Rainy River will officially start construction next year.

“We’re almost complete with the Northern Lakes K-12 (in Atikokan), with our elementary students moving into that school for September. There are just a few finishing touches being made to that school. It’s beautiful.”

The board is also starting renovations at Fort Frances High School that will include new gender-neutral washrooms for students in grades 9-12.