Isabella Dicken Elementary School

Isabella Dicken Elementary School was officially opened January 14, 1966 as a primary school.  The first principal of the school was Mr. Max Turyk.  In September 1971, the school was expanded enrolling grades Kindergarten through Grade 7.  

ÉIDES now enrolls 560 students, kindergarten to grade 6.

Miss Isabella Dicken, after whom the school is named, had a long and distinguished career as a primary teacher in the Fernie School system.  She came to Fernie from England in 1905 and graduated from Fernie's first high school in 1912.  After attending Vancouver Normal School in 1913, Miss Dicken started teaching Grade 1 in the Fernie Elementary-Secondary School in the fall of 1914 and taught the same grade until her retirement in 1953.  Miss Dicken passed away in 1992.