Great Bay eLearning Charter School

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Great Bay eLearning Charter School or otherwise known as GBeCS, is a licensed charter school located in Exeter, New Hampshire. The school is project based and has no testing besides the required state testing. The school is also technology based and uses Video Conferencing to discuss projects with museums and even other schools. The school does not use the traditional grading system, but has three Divisions, described as roughly grades 8 - 12. Grades 8 and 9 create a division. Grades 10 and 11 create a division, and grade 12 creates the other division. In 2007 there will be seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. In 2008, the first graduating class of GBeCS, there will be seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen and grade 8.

There are several different activities that GBeCS students participate in at school. There is Activity Period, which substitutes normal gym class. Students walk around the Exeter area, play touch football, play a "GBeCS Version" of the hand-and-hand combat game called realms, and also can catch up on any work they have with a silent study (they must get permission first). During activity period there have also been known to have yoga, held at Blue Moon Yoga & Cafe, located less than 5 minutes from the school. They also have had frequent walking trips to the river "out back" to see how many possible fish they can catch. Inside the school the students are encouraged to decorate the school with art and colors.

At the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year many students participated in the school newspaper, The Sunshine Times, with submissions of artwork, poetry, articles, and more. The journalism crew has been switched so that, instead, they can work on the yearbook. (Unfortunately, the yearbook for the 2005-2006 had technical difficulties and was not printed. GBeCS plans on using donations for the Yearbook Fund to purchase color yearbooks instead of black-and-white ones. There is also a school store run by students to earn money for this project and other.

In 2005, all students were working on a bridge project for Math & Science. Students choose to work in a group for this project. They must all build a popsicle bridge while keeping in mind budget, materials, environmental precautions and more.

There was also a project called the TinyTopia project. Students had been working on the project since February 2006. They have to create their own ideal world and explain it. On May 24 2006 students displayed their utopia in an interactive exhibition.

As of 2006, freshman at GBeCS are finalizing their Worlds Fair project, the first project of their GBeCS career. They must research and display an ancient civilization. Sophomores are creating an Around the World in "X" Days, a project where the students must take into account transportation, sleeping, etc, while visit the entire world (going around the world at least once). They had to sign up for a line of credit and more through math class! Juniors are working on a Watershed project, in which they must understand local data about the current sitaution at Patuckaway State Park and present it to the town of Raymond. The second annual Winter Exhibition will be held on November 13.

In addition to the mathematics curriculum, there is now being offered Consumer Math. Motivated students, in addition to regular mathematics (whether that be Alegebra I, Geometry, Alegebra II, Pre-Calculus or Trigonometry) have to create budgets, manage a "car" and "house" loan, take into consideration a "spouse" (peer, if desired) and perhaps even children. They have to find and maintain a car, a house, and find a job. In October, students went to the local Stop and Shop to look at prices of groceries, and then went to Little Critters Pet Shop to "purchase" pets and accessories. They also could go to Rite Aid for pharmaceutical items as well.

GBeCS had it's first dance of the year on October 13th 2006, organized by Ms. Johnston's advisory. Everyone came and wore a mask.