16. Upcoming events
• December 3 – David Lloyd George Breakfast Club
• December 5 – Van Tech Human Rights Symposium
• December 5 – Hastings Inner City Christmas Dinner
• December 6 – Workshop: Annual United Way Lunch
• December 11 – Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Van Tech
Upcoming school visits:
• Seymour Elementary
• Britannia Secondary
Notes de l'éditeur
The Cave, one of the oldest school stores in Vancouver, was celebrating its 20 year anniversary last week at Britannia Secondary. Opened in November 1993, the Cave is operated by Grade 11 and 12 students and is an integral part of Britannia's Marketing Career Preparation program. Over the years, it has trained countless students in hands-on marketing, sales and business administration skills. Congrats to business teacher (and Cave founder) Lee Nipp and all the students who keep the cave operating each year.
On Thursday, November 21 and Friday November 22, Strathcona and Templeton opened their school doors in the evening to hundreds of people in their 20s and 30s. The Raincity Chronicles’ - Tales from Public School featured an eclectic mix of storytellers, some amazing fusion “cafeteria” food and some excellent performances by several talented musicians. Both evenings were very successful and raised over $1,000 for the inner city schools.
Student chefs from École Bilingue whipped up some delicious dishes during the school’s annual Iron Chef competitions. The annual event was organized by Grade 6 teacher Sonia Schenkel, who conceived of the idea five years ago.
On Wednesday, Nov 27, Britannia Secondary was visited by world renowned fashion designer, Simon Chang,(a Britannia grad) who gave the students a motivational talk about how they could reach their full potential and how to showcase their school.
On November 21, students from Henderson Elementary took the stage to dance, sing and celebrate their school’s half century anniversary. The event included performances that mashed up popular songs from each decade.
On Wednesday, November 27 the library at Vancouver Technical Secondary School was transformed into The Shire. Grade 8 students showcased their interpretation of a hobbit’s banquet based on their studies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fiction novel The Hobbit, as part of the Summit program at Vancouver Technical Secondary School. Special thanks need to go out to English teacher Kim Beaucock who organized this terrific event.
Hundreds of district staff came together on Nov 20 for the annual district pancake breakfast for the United Way. During the morning, Ed Centre and district staff cooked and ate tasty pancakes (thanks to the Maintenance Crew for the pancake mix) as well as other culinary treats prepared by Templeton student chefs.
On November 21, Kingsford Smith students had “the best school day EVER” when they had a surprise visit from Olympic hopeful, Matt Margetts. The kids were learning about the Sochi Olympics and decided to raise money to support the Olympic hopeful. While they were writing class letters to the Olympian they were astounded when he walked in through the door. Truly a memorable time for some very enthusiastic students.
On Friday, Nov 22, students from across Metro Vancouver descended up on Windermere Secondary for the annual C3 conference. They were there to learn more about sustainability initiatives and what they could do to make their schools greener. The whole conference was student run and organized.
Congratulations to Osler elementary school student, Helena Kantowicz. She recently won an award for her groundbreaking video about the legacy of residential schools in Canada. She, along with Nicolas Cain from Captain James Cook elementary, attended a reception at Rideau Hall and a dinner at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.
A short while ago, I attended and spoke at the VDSC All Presidents’ meeting. The students had a facilitated discussion following the introductory speeches held in the Board room. Both Student Trustee Nick Milum and VDSC President Chansey Chiang did an excellent job of opening the event.
I joined Chairperson Bacchus, trustees Denike and Ballantyne and student trustee Nick Milum at the recent provincial conference organized by the BCSSA. We were joined by a small team of partner group stakeholders for the two-day event. John Oliver Secondary students opened the conference with their Drum Line with music director Eric Tsang. Students from JO also presented about digital immersion along with teacher mentor, Zhi Su and District Principal, Gino Bondi.
We had a wonderful visit to Fleming Elementary last week where we got a full school tour. Highlights included the spider’s web, robotics program and some incredible hands on learning where students were using marshmallows and spaghetti to construct towers. After Fleming we headed over to VLN and took a tour of the school’s learning facilities. This next slide is Principal Liz Kloepper rescuing what she thought were some discarded apple trees.