G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Good things are happening New Westminster Schools 2017-18
For our kindergarten minimakers designing birdhouses; our middle school students exploring social justice issues; and our high school students engaged in digital media, robotics or the performing arts – pride in identity, voice and accomplishment is tangible at every level. It’s been a year of big moments. Contents Good things are happening 1 Renewing our mission, vision and values 2 Transforming education 4 Taking reconciliation to heart 6 Supporting learning achievement for all 8 Building for the future now 10 Our journey continues... 12
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Good things are happening at New Westminster Schools This booklet highlights a transformation in education across the district, when students are taking ownership of their learning and educators are bringing innovation to the classroom. It maps our continuing journey toward Reconciliation as we seek to understand our history with Aboriginal peoples, change our relationship for the better, and ensure the success of our Aboriginal students. It shows how we can meaningfully support learning achievement for Mark Gifford, Board of Education
all of our students with the help of a $1.2 million budget surplus for 2018-19 – an opportunity that’s inspired an incredibly important set of learning investments. And it celebrates the monumental strides we’ve made in our capital projects. Our new New Westminster Secondary School is scheduled to open for September 2020; a replacement school for our venerable old Richard McBride elementary school is about to begin, and a major seismic upgrade for our 81-year-old École Lord Tweedsmuir elementary school is underway. It’s a huge accomplishment that ensures safe school environments for our students in the coming months.
Karim Hachlaf, Superintendent
In addition, we’re extremely pleased this year to have welcomed 50 new teachers in September. Their contributions will have positive impacts as we continue to work closely with our New Westminster Teachers Union and our CUPE local to strengthen support for all of our students. We’re also proud of a massive, district-wide technology infrastructure upgrade that by September 2017 had ensured WIFI access for all our schools, provided a major infusion of mobile computers for students and staff, and opened new opportunities for teaching and learning. Together, our Board of Education and our staff’s forward-thinking, inclusive, and practical approach to supporting all of our students, including our most vulnerable, is a source of pride. We were the first district in BC to adopt a Sanctuary Schools policy welcoming all children regardless of immigration status in March of 2017; this coming year we are looking at rolling out a ground-breaking school nourishment program that can improve student nutrition and food access across the district. Our work continues. Through it all, we’re guided by the values that define us now and into the future – where all are welcomed, respected and supported in their learning journey. Welcome!
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G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Renewing our mission, vision and values We started 2018 with a new vision as a place where students love to learn – and the evidence is everywhere that we are well on our way. After 18 months of careful consideration weighing the meaning of words and their implication for the education of all students, Board of Education trustees, with the help of the public, passed motions establishing new Foundational Statements for the district. In addressing the fundamental purpose of school, trustees felt a vision that was both aspirational and realistic would be captured in the statement: New Westminster Schools is a place where students love to learn. The district’s newly-forged Mission Statement is: to enable each student to learn in a safe, engaging and inclusive environment. Renewing our Vision and Mission will drive strategic directions and inspire learning, teaching, and support in all aspects of the educational journey. Through it all, we’re guided by these six values:
collaboration
engagement
equity
Purposeful cooperative
Meaningful, purposeful,
Fair treatment and the removal of
relationships to achieve shared
and relevant learning
barriers to learning, achievement,
goals and consider each other
and the pursuit of excellence for all
in our decisions and actions
inclusion
innovation
integrity
Learning where all people
Curiosity, inquiry
Ethical, principled and honest
are welcomed, respected,
and creativity
in our words and actions
and supported
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
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Pictured: Leadership students at Fraser River Middle School
We are a rich tapestry of learning styles, backgrounds, and cultures. We are dedicated to supporting each of our unique learners so they will have the skills to become productive citizens in a rapidly changing world.
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G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Transforming education Education is in the midst of a transformation in BC and New Westminster Schools is embracing the change wholeheartedly. D ESIG N THINKING S TA R T S HERE
KNOW, D O, U ND ERS TA ND
When kindergarten kids across the district take up
The hands-on approach to learning is key at the
hammers and drills to make boxes, benches, and
middle and high school levels too.
birdhouses, they’re gaining not only practical skills, but problem-solving and design thinking skills too.
Technology in the form of robotics, 3D printers, green screens and digital media arts are just some
Gary Pattern is a Technical Education teacher.
of the tools giving students innovative and creative
He has 30 mobile toolcarts that he’s been taking to
ways to demonstrate learning in any number of
elementary schools throughout the district this year
academic subjects.
to introduce students to maker culture.
Further, when middle or high school students are
During his time with Lord Kelvin Elementary School
able to ask their own questions, engage in projects
kids in November, he asked them to think about what
driven by their own ideas, learn through real-world
it must be like for birds to go hungry in winter.
experiences, and problem-solve using a growing
The children empathized with the challenge the birds
array of technologies, they are in fact taking
faced, talked about the problem together, came up
ownership of their own learning.
with some solutions, and drew up prototypes of what
The “Know-Do-Understand” approach to learning is
their ideas might look like.
part of a larger shift from passive to active learning
In the process, they were shifting between abstract
that takes students and teachers beyond a focus on
and concrete thinking, engaging in experimentation,
facts, information, tests and learning by rote.
and collaborating together – guided by what’s known
For students in all subjects, the focus is on
as the “Stanford Design Thinking Process Model.”
developing three core competencies – thinking
The skills the students are learning in kindergarten
critically to understand what they are learning;
will take them to grade 12 and beyond.
communicating to share information, experiences and ideas; and developing personal and social competency to understand themselves and others. This transformation is guided by BC’s new redesigned curriculum – introduced in kindergarten to grade 9 last year, ready for grade 10 in July 2018, and due to be fully implemented in grades 11 and 12 in the 20182019 school year.
Left: Students from Lord Kelvin Elementary building birdhouses
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Above: Students from Lord Kelvin Elementary building birdhouses
C H A NG ING C U RRIC U LU M
Transformation in learning means a transformation in teaching too. At New Westminster Schools, teachers are bringing innovation and creativity in the classroom to inspire learning that is relevant and engaging for all of our students. Now in its third year, our “Innovation Grants” program allows teachers to ask key questions, conduct “action research” by introducing ideas into the classroom, and share their findings. Their teamwork as they explore new approaches – in technology, in social and emotional learning, in student empowerment and more – is truly inspiring. And their work is having an impact as ideas that make a difference spread across the district – from the “Zones of Regulation” program helping children and adults to manage their emotions to better prepare for learning; to Fresh Grade, a digital platform that is a dynamic way for students to share what they’re learning in school with parents.
For many teachers, it’s an exciting time that can involve both reward and risk. As New Westminster Secondary School social studies teacher Brenda Kwok observed: “You learn from failure; from what works and what doesn’t. And you have to believe in what you are doing. “If you are excited and engaged, students will be too.”
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G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Above: Powwow fancy dancers take the whole school on a cultural journey through dance
Taking reconciliation to heart Reclaiming pride and affirming identity The emphasis on Aboriginal perspectives
The annual Qayqayt Honouring and Rite of
in BC’s redesigned curriculum is a response
Passage ceremony is a highlight event in
to a “call for action” from the Truth
our district. The solemn rite incorporates
and Reconciliation Commission, which
cedar branches, ceremonial blankets, and
investigated the residential school system
drumming to celebrate kindergarten, grade
and the forced removal of 150,000 First
8 and grade 12 students at significant
Nation, Inuit and Métis children from their
stages in their lives.
families and communities for assimilation
“We are all on a journey,” said Bertha
into the dominant culture.
Lansdowne, Aboriginal Education
As part of the process of healing, New
Coordinator with the district for more
Westminster Schools is committed to
than 14 years. “We too are reclaiming
helping our Aboriginal students develop
our identities, our cultural practices,
pride, confidence and self-esteem through
and our voices. It’s tremendous growth
the affirmation of their ancestral identity.
for everyone….”
The district Aboriginal Education team supports improving school success for the district’s more than 300 Aboriginal students, as well as engagement in a number of cultural and social gatherings.
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
LI V ING C U LT U RES It’s mid-April, and out in the field at École Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School, 350 students are standing in a cool spring rain. The last note of a drumming song has faded. In the silence, Aboriginal Support Worker Roslyn Swanson offers a traditional smudging ceremony for the school-wide garden project. It’s a moment of calm and reflection.
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Many teachers are incorporating traditional talking circles, sharing myths and stories, or exploring identity in relation to Canada’s history with First Nations. All learners are on a journey to increase knowledge of Aboriginal history, culture and perspectives. That’s the goal we adopted this year with the guidance of our Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee. In answering the call for reconciliation, we are also seeking to understand the responsibilities of a shared colonial past. At F.W. Howay elementary this spring, students joined voice with children from the Shuswap Nation via recorded video to sing a song about residential schools. The words captured what it must have been like for children to be forcibly taken away from their homes, “put in the dark, and left all alone.” It was a moving school-wide assembly addressing cultural and personal loss at an age-appropriate level. Students at Queensborough Middle School took the historical experience another step. They staged a
Teacher Julie Alava invites the students to imagine
tableau of a pre- and post-contact First Peoples
First Peoples living here, the salmon in the river
village with the guidance of Facilitator Brad Marsden,
below, the Elders as their teachers, and the land
of the Gitksan Nation. The interactive Residential
as their responsibility. Each of the students place
School and Colonization workshop saw students take
a rock in their new garden riverbed, and with it a
on roles such as Elders, Warriors, and Clan leaders.
dream for their garden.
The experience encouraged them to understand
It’s as if two centuries have melted away in
how they might see differently, think differently and
New Westminster. From Powwow dancing to salmon feasts, and from smudges to traditional rites of passage, students across the district are experiencing the living cultures
behave differently. It was a major step challenging preconceived ideas of Aboriginal peoples. At the high school level, more than 140 students took part in a special screening of the movie Indian
of First Peoples.
Horse, about a boy who survives an Indian Residential
DIG G ING DEEPER FO R M E A NING
racism, stereotypes and personal trauma. The film
Year by year, students and staff are “digging deeper to find more meaning in Indigenous voice and perspectives,” says Bertha Lansdowne, district Aboriginal Education Coordinator.
School, becomes a hockey player and confronts raised complex questions of cultural and personal loss, and invited students to rethink Canada’s relations with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. The journey towards understanding takes many steps, but it has begun.
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G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Supporting learning achievement for all Empowering educators to better understand the challenges students face is a step in creating a school community where everyone feels safe, seen, heard, and supported.
Right: Celebrating appoval of Sanctuary Schools Policy Left: Multicultural Week at Lord Kelvin Elementary
RE M OV ING B A RRIERS TO LE A RNING A rise in mental health disorders among children and youth is a growing concern in BC schools. This year we found high interest from our teachers, staff and administrators in a series of presentations we hosted on anxiety, trauma, depression, and the developing brain. Our work in this area continues. Across the district, we are implementing strategies that empower our students who live with behavioral, learning, and sensory challenges to manage their emotional and physical needs and to benefit from options that help them get ready to learn. With proper training and supports, behaviours can be managed and every student can thrive and learn.
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
The “Zones of Regulation” is a program that
Volunteers in our schools are a further welcome
associates emotions with colours and provides
connection to the community for students. And this
strategies to help students cope with feelings.
coming year, our Board of Education is supporting
It is fast becoming a shared language among
a district-wide school nourishment program to
teachers, students and staff members at New
ensure access to nutritious food for all students, a
Westminster Schools.
major initiative that can support healthy eating and
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enhance learning.
For students with sensory challenges, a visit to the brand new sensory room at Lord Kelvin Elementary School is helping children reduce agitation, anxiety or hyperactivity. The room features calming lights, soothing sounds, and relaxing smell and touch.
We continue to ensure our schools are inclusive, safe and welcoming. We are expanding resources on SOGI 123 to support students of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and will be welcoming a school lead in the coming year who will enhance compassionate and positive relationships. At New Westminster Schools, we want our
Even a basic change in seating can make a huge
students to learn in a safe, engaging and inclusive
difference. Students who feel fidgety and jittery
environment, and for all of our students to come to
might prefer to sit on a Hokki stool rather than at
school with a joy for learning!
a standard row of desk and chairs. It’s designed to wobble and help active learners to better focus. At New Westminster Schools, we are supporting a move to flexible learning spaces that give students a choice in the kind of learning space that works for them. In supporting academic success for our Aboriginal students, we are addressing numeracy and literacy in
Good news for learning success
Digital literacy resources, “leveled” reading books
A big moment for learning at New Westminster Schools.
and other resources will help. We are also providing
Our Board of Education announced a good news
support with the help of transition and graduation
budget in March that means we can make an
coaches who will guide students through major shifts
“incredibly important set of investments” in our
from middle to high school. In addition, an exciting
students’ learning achievements.
student peer mentorship and youth leadership
Thanks to a budget surplus of $1.2 million, new
program will go a long way to helping students feel
money is being invested in a host of educational
a sense of connection and belonging.
priorities, programs, and resources that will
Grades 4 and 7 and taking steps to identify readers at risk. We know that early intervention matters.
S A FE , ENG AG ING A ND INC LUSI V E Our community partners are vital in promoting the well-being of children, youth and families in more vulnerable neighbourhoods. Our Community Schools program offers subsidized after-school programs that build student connection to schools and strengthen our students’ success.
strengthen learning outcomes for all our students – particularly our most vulnerable. Research and evidence shows how we can make targeted and timely interventions that will make a difference in literacy and numeracy, and in closing learning gaps.
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G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Building for the future now Across the district, we’re breaking ground for education at New Westminster Schools. With two brand new schools underway, or about to start, and a major seismic upgrade for another, it’s a major leap forward not only for safe schools in our city, but for state of the art education. Both Education Minster Rob Fleming and New Westminster MLA Minister Judy Darcy were on hand – not once but twice this past May – to unveil
“These projects affirm the right of our children to learn, grow and thrive in welcoming, inclusive – and safe – school environments,” Board of Education Chair Mark Gifford said in acknowledging the support of parents, the community and the province at the May 9th press event.
projects that on their own would be huge milestones, but together add up to an exciting chapter for our district. Our year of celebration included:
PL A NNING FOR G ROW TH At New Westminster Schools, we strive to meet
Richard McBride Elementary
the learning needs of a growing and changing
The announcement on May 9 of a $22.6 million
community. New Westminster is expected to reach
replacement for Richard McBride Elementary School,
84,000 people by 2021. With the growth of the city
a venerable 89-year-old structure deemed at high
comes the growth of the School District.
risk for seismic failure, and of pressing concern for
Our Board of Education is in the final stages of
parents. Construction to replace the “castle on the
developing a long range facilities plan (LRFP). The
hill” begins in fall 2018 with completion scheduled
plan will develop options to meet anticipated increase
for early 2021.
in enrolment in coming years. It will align with the
École Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary
City’s official community plan, inform our Board’s
A $6.1 million seismic upgrade for 81-year-old École Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School. The school was
five-year capital plan, and provide a framework for our local decisions.
assessed at high risk for structural failure in two of
We look forward with confidence to building a
the school’s three blocks and is a high priority for the
strong foundation that will carry us effectively
district. The project was announced May 9, started in
into the future.
June, and will be completed in the fall of 2020.
New Westminster Secondary A groundbreaking ceremony on May 25 that officially signaled the start of construction for our $106.5 million, state-of-the-art New Westminster Secondary School (NWSS) replacement – the largest school investment in BC history. Funding for the project was announced June 2016. Graham Design-Builders with KMBR Architects Planners Inc. were selected to design and build the new school in December 2017.
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
INS PIRING LE A RNING
Right: Richard McBride
Although a long time coming, the timing for a new NWSS couldn’t be better.
Left: Groundbreaking
Our students are entering a dramatically different world. They require new
at NWSS
and creative skills in critical thinking, collaboration, maker culture, the use of technology and more.
As education in BC undergoes a major transformation, we’ve had the opportunity to design our school in a way that allows us to embrace that change. The new NWSS will accommodate 1,900-2,100 grade 9 to 12 students in an inspirational and inclusive space filled with natural light and wood, with a huge shared Grand Commons foyer, a 280-seat Performing Arts Theatre, modern shops, collaborative learning paces, and a host of features to meet the needs of a diverse student population – including a recording studio, sculpture garden, roll-up doors to connect indoor and outdoor spaces, and flexible, multi-purpose learning spaces to bring students together across disciplines. Our current New Westminster Secondary School has served the community since 1949 and has long inspired a sense of connection, pride, and community. Our NWSS students, teachers and staff continue to engage in inspired learning, teaching and programming, despite aging walls and outdated buildings. We are proud of the fact that NWSS has a rich culture where diversity is celebrated and relationships are nurtured, and we fully expect to take that spirit with us into the future.
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Elementary announcement
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G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
Our journey continues... At New Westminster Schools, we’re proud of the exciting things happening across the district. Our students are engaged at every step in the learning journey – and it shows. Rain or shine for two years running, Forest Fridays
And then there was the down-to-the-wire,
at Connaught Heights Elementary have given
last-minute victory of our Hyacks football team
kindergarten and grade one students the chance
at BC Place stadium. The team won their first-ever
to experience the outdoor classroom as an exciting
BC high school football title against the Terry Fox
learning adventure. It’s a remarkable commitment
Ravens on the game’s last play. It was a media
on the part of teacher Laurie Wong, the parents, the
sensation, with headlines calling it an “absolute
children and the school.
thriller.” It was also a game built on passion,
Our rich diversity is a constant source of pride.
commitment, hard work, and a bit of luck. At year
and a special highlight during Multicultural Week at Lord Kelvin Elementary School, where more than half the school’s students come from around the world. During the Parade of Cultures this spring, children from Eritrea to Syria and from Holland to China, wore their traditional clothing in an expression of joy that was palpable. What an inspiration! Our New Westminster Secondary School
end, six of the 11 graduating Hyack football players had received football scholarships.
We are proud of our students who every month visit our Board of Education to highlight their successes, share their talents, demonstrate their learning, or offer ideas to strengthen our school culture.
performing arts students liven up our city every
We’re proud too, of everyone who is part of the
year with jazz concerts, choir performances, musical
learning journey – from our parents, caregivers and
theatre productions, dance and more. Their artistry,
volunteers to our teachers, support staff, and
professionalism and dedication is second to none.
our dedicated school trustees.
The highlights this year included a four-day run of the Gershwin musical “Crazy for You” at the Massey Theatre.
We opened 2018 with our new vision of New Westminster Schools as a place where students love to learn. Our Board of Education
Our students are also passionate about social justice.
renewed our Mission and Values to guide us into
The “water walkers” at École Glenbrook Middle School
the future: We want each of our students to learn
and F.W. Howay Elementary raised money this spring
in a safe, engaging and inclusive environment. We
for children around the world who do not have access
value collaboration, engagement, equity, inclusion,
to clean, safe drinking water. Connaught Heights
innovation and integrity.
students took a stand for conservation as they “Rocked the Salish Sea” with professional musician Holly Arntzen and friends at the Anvil Centre. And high school students staged their second annual Holocaust symposium, along with a Rocksolid theatre production that seeks to create positive social change.
Everywhere we look, we can see our vision, our mission, and our values in action. Good things are happening at New Westminster Schools. We look forward to an exciting 2018-19 school year!
G O O D T H I N G S A R E H A P P E N I N G : N E W W E S T M I N S T E R S C H O O L S 20 17-18
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Pictured: A student in the New Westminster Secondary School Performing Arts program, sharing the power of music
Everywhere we look, we can see our vision, our mission, and our values in action. Good things are happening at New Westminster Schools.
New Westminster Schools recognizes and acknowledges the Qayqayt First Nation, as well as all Coast Salish peoples, on whose traditional and unceded territories we live, we learn, we play and we do our work. New Westminster School District School Board Office School District No 40 811 Ontario Street New Westminster, BC Canada V3M 0J7 604 517 6240 | info@sd40.bc.ca | newwestschools.ca