Grade 10 student Ivan from Ukraine speaks with Brendan Strain of CTV. See the full news item here.

Dear Brookes Westshore Families and Friends,

Term 2 interim learning updates are issued today through ManageBac. In this interim update, homeroom advisors will provide comments on students’ ATL (Approaches to Learning) progress. Developing ATL skills is crucial for students as it empowers them to become effective learners, fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-management skills that extend beyond specific subjects, preparing them for success in various aspects of life. We encourage parents to take time to review your child(ren)’s progress and celebrate their achievements. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

The White Hatter Session

We are very excited to have the White Hatter, an education specialist, come to the school next Tuesday, February 13^th, to educate students about digital literacy, internet safety and online privacy. There will be two sessions for Grade 4-7 students. 

• Grade 4-5 at 08.50-10.05: Digital Literacy and Internet Safety for Students Ages 9-11 (Grade 4-5) - The White Hatter
• MYP 1-2 at 13.00-14.15: Digital Literacy, Privacy, and Opportunities Ages 12-13 (Grade 6-7) - The White Hatter

Parents are welcome to join us for the presentation in the dining hall. The White Hatter also offers parent resources that you can find here: Parents & Caregivers - The White Hatter

Brookes on CTV

We were delighted to welcome CTV to our campus on Tuesday to talk with our Ukrainian students about their experiences. You can see the report from CTV here. I am so proud that we have been able to support these students and for the warm welcome they have received from staff, students, and families. I would also like to thank Linda for her herculean efforts in bringing the students to Canada. Linda has worked behind the scenes alongside Bohdan Yarema (Brookes' parent and Ukrainian citizen) for many months liaising with the Ukrainian Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs and navigating the complexities of Canadian immigration. Thank you so much Linda and Bohdan!

With kind regards,

Dr. Rui Li

Principal

Extended Essay Exhibition

On Thursday, DP2 students participated in the Extended Essay Exhibition and had the opportunity to share their essay with parents, teachers and DP1 students. I encourage all parents who were not able to attend the exhibition to ask their child to share their presentation with them. You will be impressed! DP1 students took advantage of this opportunity to ask questions and develop a better understanding of the EE process. DP1 students receive an EE class once per week in year 1. They now have their Research Question and are ready to move forward with their research.

Diploma Programme Extended Essay

The extended essay is a centrepiece of the IB Diploma Programme in which students engage in an independent research project with intellectual initiative and rigour.

Through writing the extended essay, students develop research, thinking, self-management, and communications skills and reflect on their research and writing processes to help prepare them for the academic demands in university.

The extended essay is unique because students choose a topic of their own interest and are required to delve into scholarly literature to support their arguments with evidence. This helps our students learn how to conduct research at a university level as well as how to appropriately reference and cite their sources, an important part of modern academic integrity policies.

Throughout this challenging process, students explore their passions and cultivate a love for learning to take with them into future educational settings. Overall, the extended essay is a chance for students to showcase their learning and developing skills through an academic research project.

At-a-glance:

The extended essay is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.

What is the significance of the extended essay?

The extended essay provides:

• practical preparation for undergraduate research
• an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of personal interest to them, which relates to one of the student's six DP subjects or takes the interdisciplinary approach of a World Studies extended essay.

Through the research process for the extended essay, students develop skills in:

• formulating an appropriate research question
• engaging in a personal exploration of the topic
• communicating ideas
• developing an argument. 

Participation in this process develops the capacity to analyze, synthesize and evaluate knowledge.

You can see this year's Extended Essay topics here.

MYP 3 "Carnaval"

MYP 3 had fun making beaver tails (les queues de castor) in the dorm kitchen this week. After researching and reading the recipe in French, students enjoyed shaping the dough and smearing toppings of choice! They have been studying a unit on French holidays which culminated with a study of Carnaval.

100 Days to Graduation

This week saw the last mock exam for our DP 2 students. It has been a tough few weeks for them – focusing all their attention on revision and then taking six exams in four days. Honouring their hard work, we held a surprise “100 Days to Graduation” party in the boardroom to celebrate their efforts and mark the start of the countdown to graduation. Despite their tiredness there were lots of smiles and a sense of accomplishment across the whole group. Well done to you all!

Snack time and future Grand Masters? 

F.A.M.E. begins in Term 3. Musicians and singers, bring a song to the group for us to learn, practice, and perform. Every Friday after school in the Dining Hall, starting in April.

The grade 8 girls’ volleyball team hosted Dunsmuir and Central Mountain Lelem yesterday for an exciting afternoon of volleyball. They got off to a good start defeating Dunsmuir in straight sets (15-5; 15-8) thanks to some really good serving and team play. In their second game, they continued their fine play by defeating Central Mountain Lelem (15-4; 17-15). The second set was particularly exciting, with our team coming from behind for the win. Congratulations, girls! Well done! Thanks to Kiyanah, Adrien, Karras, and Oliver for volunteering as scorekeepers and linespeople. 

This week our Senior Boys Basketball team began their journey to the Island Championships. Thursday night they competed and defeated QMS school 60-35 and secured their spot in the finals. DP2 Kura won Player of the Game with Mahad hitting a 3 pointer to finish the game!

The final game will be played on Saturday against Cedar Secondary School. Thursday's win also guarantees the team a spot in the Island Championships which take place at Duncan Christian School in 2 weeks.

Congratulations team and good luck this weekend!

DP Mock Exams

The last two weeks have been an especially busy time for DP2 students as they prepared and wrote their DP Mock Exams. These exams provide students with the opportunity to experience the structure of an IB examination session and provides teachers and students with a snapshot of their achievement levels.

The IB exams are cumulative and assess subject knowledge from years 1 and 2 of the programme. Students took these exams very seriously and teachers were very impressed with the student preparation. Parents and students will receive a predicated grade for each subject in the report sent out today. The predicated grade is based on the student’s overall performance throughout the programme, their study skills and achievement on the mock exams.

Mia has been accepted to Sophia University in Japan - Congratulations Mia!

Decorations are up for the Lunar New Year Celebrations this evening.

Ms. Dakota took a moment this week to introduce some young students to the joys and delights of an old-school Atlas. They were entranced! 

A shout out to our dining crew - follow them on @brookesdiningwestshore for more mouthwatering images!

Brookes Westshore acknowledges that our school is on the traditional lands of the Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) and Lekwungen (Songhees) ancestors and families.
With gratitude, we live, work and learn here where the past, present, and future of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, faculty and staff come together.