Welcome from the Superintendent:

We live and work in a unique place in the world. Students and staff at the Grand Canyon have access to an environment and experiences that are not available in any other place. Creating a school environment that takes advantage of this uniqueness requires creativity, energy and a willingness to break out of the traditional educational mode and make the Canyon a classroom. We encourage exploration of the Canyon and the resources around us, including learning from those who work for the National Park Service, the Grand Canyon Association, in our nearby community of Tusayan and the concessionaires who serve visitors from all over the world.

The Mission of the Grand Canyon Unified School District reflects our support of students and a focus on their learning and development. It states, ìStriving to meet each childís needs, it is the mission of Grand Canyon schools to help students become respectful, responsible, confident and productive community members with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that foster a lifelong love of learning.î

To support this mission, we offer a curricular framework that reflects our respect for each other, our community and our visitors who come from all over the world: the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) for grades K-5 and the Middle Years Programme (MYP) for grades 6-10. We are in the second year of implementation and plan to apply for full authorization of both programs at the end of the 2006-07 school year. Our students are encouraged to learn, explore, think and discuss different points of view in order to learn and develop their own understanding of what they know and how they know it. The curriculum focuses on developing the whole student, helping each to grow intellectually, socially, aesthetically and culturally. It provides a broad and balanced education the include science and the humanities, languages and mathematics, technology and the arts. Our teachers have the expertise, training, experience and knowledge to provide a world-class education for all of our students, and the support of the International Baccalaureate Organization to ensure quality, consistency and continuity.

The Grand Canyon is an amazing place to live, work, teach and learn. Every day, our goal is to provide a learning experience for our children that is as powerful as the environment around us.