Schools across the Portage division recently participated in a variety of highly successful projects funded by the "Smarts" grant. That's according to Assistant Superintendent Pam Garnham, who says the division receives twenty thousand dollars a year to put toward these projects. Garnham notes the purpose is to establish a partnership between young people, artists and arts organizations in the schools and the community. She says it provides opportunities for young people to actively participate in the arts, adding it also enables schools and community organizations to explore ways to integrate arts activities into other subject areas of the provincial curriculum.

Garnham notes some of this year's projects included one at Fort la Reine School entitled "Life In The Circus," in which kindergarten to grade six students learned a number of juggling skills. She says a hundred and seventy Oakville School students from kindergarten to grade eight did hoop dancing, adding they created their own hoops and practiced all week before performing at a big assembly. Garnham notes the nine projects across the division really engaged students and let them see another side of education.