Charles Tetcho School

About Charles Tetcho School

In a community which maintains traditional lifestyles as well a great respect for cultural heritage, Charles Tetcho’s goals are to foster a climate in which all students are able to learn and acquire essential skills related both to curricular outcomes and meaningful life skills. Cultural traditions and Dene Yahtie language training are integrated within our daily instructional lessons.

Welcome to Charles Tetcho School, located in magnificent Sambaa K’e (formerly known as Trout Lake). We are situated on the flat, sandy, forested southeast shore of Trout Lake and at the mouth of the Island River in the south-central area of the Dehcho region. Our community is accessible by charter aircraft in summer or by a 126 kilometre ice road during the winter months.

We are a Kindergarten to grade 9 school with an enrollment of 16 students. In 1959 students were taken from Trout Lake to schools in Fort Smith, Providence even Inuvik. When Thomas Simpson School and hostel were completed in 1960, students from Trout Lake went there for schooling. The first school was built in Trout Lake in 1972. A larger school providing education to grade six was built in 1978 and named Charles Tetcho after the first Sub-Chief in this community. A beautiful new and larger and school building is currently under construction to accommodate the growing population of students and will be officially opening September 2019. High school students will continue to go to Liidlii Kue Regional High School in Fort Simpson.