A Message from Jerry Salvador - Head of School

Dear Brookes teachers and staff, families and, of course, our Class of 2020,

I sincerely hope this newsletter finds you all safe and well, wherever you are in the world.

Today I celebrated the end of the school year with our Grade 6 to 8 students. It struck me that this was the first End of Year Ceremony that I haven’t been able to attend in person.  Having said that, not being physically present doesn’t diminish the pride I feel for the strength and perseverance our students and staff have shown by completing their studies under these adverse conditions. 

It was the South African Anti-Apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, who told his people: “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”  I can affirm that through this pandemic we, at Brookes Westshore, have stumbled, we have tripped and fallen many times. Despite these unforeseen obstacles, what a Brookes education has taught us is that the most important quality we need today is resilience, the capacity “to get back up again,” to adapt and succeed under the most adverse conditions. 

This pandemic has prepared our students well for the future, for a lifelong journey of understanding the importance of adaptability, perseverance and focus that will ultimately lead to their success.  To all our families, and to our Class of 2020 in particular, I wish you a future of peace, health, and prosperity.

With kind regards,

Jerry Salvador

A Message from Linda Bayes - VP of Academics

A big and heartfelt "Thank you!" to everyone in our school community who has contributed to making this a successful year of learning. We have the most wonderful group of students, parents and teachers who have made this year such a success despite the obstacles presented. 

I understand that many parents are wanting more clarification on the safety procedures we will have in place when school resumes. We have been working very closely with the Ministries of Education and Health to establish the safety protocols during the COVID-19 crisis. These protocols will focus on social distancing, daily health checks, staying home when sick, increasing cleaning procedures and grouping of students into smaller groups. These safety procedures will be outlined in detail in a handbook which will be shared with students and parents in the next couple of weeks. We are awaiting the final guidelines on dormitories from the Ministry of Health and once these are established a complete guide will be provided.

The New School Year of 2020-21 officially begins on Tuesday, September 8th. We are opening the dormitories on August 8/9 to allow our returning International students the opportunity to return and self-isolate for the required 14 days. We do not anticipate any problems with providing the dormitory rooms for self-isolation but we are waiting for Ministry approval.  

Local students can return to school on August 23 (but this is optional) and we will be providing classes for ATL skills, Extended Essay, Mathematics and English Language acquisition.  The learning opportunities we offer will be vary depending upon the student population who choose to return in August. Expect to see a survey in the next couple of weeks which will help us to identify those wishing to return in August. Please send me an email if you have any questions about this 2 weeks (Aug 24-Sept 4).

We are working on the 2019 - 2020 Yearbook and it will be ready for September.

Please note:

Grade 6-8 students may drop off their laptops at the school from Mon to Thursday, June 8th to 11th between 10 am and 2 pm. There will be a table and sign-off form available for the drop off of computers and textbooks.

Student lockers have been cleaned out and any belongings that were left in lockers can be found on the tables outside the dining hall.

A Message from Sheri Onushko - Director of Admissions

We are delighted to confirm that Brookes Westshore will be offering a combined Grade four and five class from September 2020. This is an important and significant first step in Brookes Westshore’s journey to becoming a ‘continuum’ school – offering the full range of International Baccalaureate programmes.

This is a great opportunity for younger students to experience what makes Brookes Westshore such a unique and positive learning environment.

The students in this pioneering class will be taught by teachers from our current faculty.

If you would like more information please contact me at admissions@westshore.brookes.org 

For returning international families - if you have booked a flight please let us know at transport@westshore.brookes.org so we can plan for arrivals. Thank you.

All the images in this week's newsletter are from Grade 9 artists answering the question: How can I make present day issue that I’m passionate about into a cubist artwork? This project is the culmination of the  Picasso research project. If we were in school, it would have been completed in paint. Students had to use whatever materials they had to available to them to make a Cubist artwork that reflected a present-day issue they are passionate about. As you can see they were a very creative group. Special thanks to Alex, Marcela, Brandon and Coen for their artwork.

Grade 6 Design

Here are the last in the series of design drawings for the "Make it Strange" project: students in Grade 6 were asked to change the scale and purpose of a 3M Disposable Respirator. Thanks to Farrah and Sophie for their designs.

Due to a change in BC Provincial Exams, please find our updated Academic Calendar on our website.