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Where Our Story Began
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What if education could be different?
Not different for the sake of being different—but intentionally designed around how children actually learn, grow, and develop.
In 2021, a group of educators, parents, and community members in Red Deer, Alberta shared a common belief: children deserved an educational experience that balanced academic excellence with deep developmental understanding.
They believed rigorous learning and joyful childhood could exist together. They believed the outdoors wasn't a break from learning—it was an essential part of it. And they believed every child should be known, challenged, and supported to become the very best version of themselves.
That belief became Creekside Creative Academy.
We opened our doors in September 2021 with just three classrooms, eight staff members, and programming for children from 12 months through Grade 3.
Our vision was ambitious but simple: to build a school where children could begin their educational journey as infants and continue all the way through to high school graduation within one intentional learning community.
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The response from families across Central Alberta was overwhelming.
As Creekside grew, so did the opportunities we could provide. After our first few months in a temporary location off-site, we moved into a temporary location within Notre Dame Plaza while our permanent Early Learning Centre was being built.
In September 2022, we welcomed children into that new space, but it wasn't long before we had outgrown it. Just a few years later, construction began on our second building, opening in September 2025 and allowing Creekside to expand into a full Kindergarten through Grade 12 Academy.
Today
Today, Creekside is home to more than 250 children and students, nearly 70 passionate staff members, and 19 learning spaces across two purpose-built buildings.
Together they form two connected parts of one vision: a Licensed Child Care Centre and an Accredited Funded Independent School through Alberta Education and Childcare.
While our campus has grown, our purpose has never changed.
The Challenges
We continue to believe that education should challenge students without overwhelming them. It should foster curiosity before conformity, relationships before rankings, and confidence before comparison.
Every stage of learning is intentionally designed to meet children where they are while preparing them for where they are going.
Outdoor Integrated Learning
Outdoor-integrated learning remains one of the defining experiences of a Creekside education. Our students learn in forests, parks, rivers, and natural spaces throughout Central Alberta, discovering that some of life's greatest lessons happen beyond four classroom walls. As children grow, those experiences grow with them—from belonging and wonder in the early years, to exploration and confidence in elementary school, to independence and leadership in middle school, and finally to mentorship, service, and legacy throughout high school.
With the addition of our dedicated off-site outdoor learning campus in September 2026, Creekside Landing, students now have a home base for immersive experiences including canoeing, camping, snowshoeing, navigation, environmental stewardship, and outdoor leadership. These experiences aren't extracurricular—they're an intentional extension of the curriculum, helping students build resilience, confidence, problem-solving skills, and a lifelong connection to the natural world.
Creekside has grown far beyond what those first eight staff members imagined in 2021.
But our founding belief remains exactly the same.
Education should be academically rigorous, developmentally appropriate, outdoor-integrated, and rooted in genuine relationships.
That's where our story began.
And we're just getting started.