Update from our Head of School - Jerry Salvador

As you would expect, we have been working hard on the possible impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak. We sent out an update yesterday on ManageBac. If you haven’t seen it – please click here. One decision we have made, in light of the potential disruption, is to postpone the Spring Fling to later in the year when circumstances have settled.

While the Coronavirus is getting a lot of attention, our staff and students have still been working hard inside and outside the classroom! Students have enjoyed some stunning weather up at Mount Washington Alpine Resort for their ski trips. We have another trip ready to go on Monday – and there will be lots of pictures coming up in next week’s newsletter to showcase the stunning snow and the amazing experience our students have enjoyed in this winter wonderland. As you will see, the Student Leadership Council has been fully engaged and providing great feedback on the school uniforms. We value our students’ opinions and encourage them to bring their perspective to the school and help us enrich and develop our community and our programming.

Brookes Westshore’s New Student Leadership Council Takes on Difficult School Uniform Issues

The Brookes Westshore Student Leadership Council was inaugurated in Term 2. About twenty students representing all grade levels met each Wednesday afternoon to consult with school leaders and consider questions of importance to the school community.

About half of the SLC members were selected by lot in a process similar both to the way people are selected today for jury duty, and the way city officials were selected in ancient Athens. The other half of the members applied to join the Council; many of these members were also recommended by teachers.

At the start of Term 2 the SLC met with Mr. Salvador, who told them how important it is to him that students participate in decisions that affect the entire school community. In its next meeting, the SLC decided to concentrate in Term 2 on issues concerning the school uniform.

Ms. Andrea Salvador met with the group and explained all the difficulties involved in changing uniform items, and how long such changes could sometimes take. The SLC then decided to survey all the students regarding each item in the uniform, from the PE kit to the blazer worn by the upper grades. The survey was carried out during an Advisor period. In their next meeting, SLC members tabulated the results of the survey, which enabled them to identify those uniform items that students most want to eliminate or modify. The survey results were forwarded to Ms. Salvador, who used them to make recommendations to the school administration and plan changes for the 2020-2021 school year.

The SLC then turned to the issue of the rules. The discussion included a wide range of questions, but centred on how frequent formal uniform days should be, and what uniform or non-uniform clothing items should be acceptable on non-formal days. The group finally agreed to four recommendations, which were then sent on to Ms. Bayes and Ms. Mingo for their consideration.

I want to congratulate the Term 2 Student Leadership Council for working diligently to sort through these complicated questions. The quality of their work has been very impressive. Bravo!

In Term 3 at least half of the SLC will consist of new members selected by lot. Members who joined by application have the option of continuing into Term 3 if they wish to. However, there will be no Grade 12s on the Council in Term 3, as the Grade 12s will be busy preparing for their May exams.

Students interested in joining the SLC can pick up an application form at the front desk.

Bird Houses in Design

Students in Grade 9 design were busy designing bird houses this week for our local bird population. When completed, they will be hanging the houses on trees around campus for our fellow bird friends to live in.

The different meanings of Pi / Pie!

Grade 6 math students in Mr. B’s class were cooking up a storm on Thursday. The grade 6’s are starting their unit on circles, radius, diameter and pi. What better way to start out this unit of studying pi than making their own beautiful little blubbery pies! Head of our kitchen, Lisa Carter and Mr. Baumgartner helped the students with their baking. The students sourced the organic blueberries from a local Metchosin farm - connecting math with the sustainability concepts learned in design class.

'Streams to Sea' with Ms McIntosh

Ms. McIntosh’s Science 6 class is collaborating with the Streams to Sea salmon program and putting our biological knowledge to action. At the end of January, we received 200 chum salmon eggs and have watched them develop eyes and hatch into little alevin. We are so excited to watch them grow and eventually release them into the Goldstream River when they are strong and healthy fry.

Something we have learned is that, while we measure human development with time, salmon develop based on the temperature of their environment. Instead of using weeks, months, or years, we can describe their growth in terms of accumulated thermal units or ATU for short. Currently, our alevin are at approximately 648 ATUs.

Stay tuned for future updates!

Weekend Activities

Last Friday, we had an extremely successful Tie Dye night! We had over thirty students participate to spice up their white t-shirts! The students had many colours to choose from for their dye, and fabric paint to make their creations even more unique. The students wrote Brookes 2020 and their names. At the end of the night, we hung up the shirts to dry and this created a beautiful entrance into the dining hall.

On Sunday, a group of students went to a yoga class at Moksana Yoga Studio. This is one of the most sought after yoga studios in Victoria. Moksana is a Sanskrit word meaning, “The magic art of releasing.” The teacher was professional and experienced and this created a fulfilling activity. Our students participated in a beginner fundamental class and we learned the basic movements and poses. We came out feeling relaxed, calm and ready for the next week!