POULSBO — School is “finally” out for summer for a large group of students in Poulsbo.

Nearly 300 students — 182 from grades seven though 12 and 107 from kindergarten through sixth — finished a month-long summer session Thursday afternoon at Poulsbo Elementary School and Poulsbo Middle School.

Summer school, which started July 9, took place Monday through Thursday for one month and offered a wide assortment of programs including the Extended School Year program, NovaNET online program, Portable Assisted Study Sequence program, General Education program and Washington Assessment of Student Learning prep. The programs are designed to give students an opportunity to retrieve credits.

Sara Lyboldt, who was teaching special needs students during the session, said summer school is an invaluable tool that allows students to gain knowledge.

“I think summer school gives children a good opportunity to progress,” she said. “When they go back to school in the fall, they’re going back with the skills they learned over the summer. They don’t regress in the summer.”

Kingston Junior High instructor Su-A Kim taught eighth and ninth grade English and mathematics courses during summer school.

“At this level, students are coming to school on a voluntary basis. It gives them a chance to catch up in their classes and fill in some holes,” Kim said. “It’s a smaller class setting and allows them to build confidence in their abilities.”

John Waller, who will be an intern principal at North Kitsap High School under the guide of Kathy Prasch in the fall, described the NovaNet online program as well as the general education program.

“In NovaNet, it’s unique because all of the work is done on the computer. It’s an online class,” Waller said. “The general education sessions are for students who are retaking a class. They have a chance to retrieve credits they didn’t acquire in the past.”

Poulsbo Middle School secondary secretary Peggy Lashua said the PASS class also gives students a leg up in their studies.

“The program sends packets and the students completes all of the packets that were sent,” Lashua said. “This is also used for students looking to retrieve credits.”

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of summer school is the WASL preparation courses that were offered this summer.

“These courses were designed to help kids get on track to pass the portions of the WASL exam they need,” Lashua said. “The last week of summer school students got an opportunity to take all portions of the WASL exam.”

Students took the reading portion Aug. 6, the math portion Aug. 7, and writing portions on Aug. 8 and 9.