Dear Brookes Westshore Families and Friends,

I hope you have had a great week this week - we have certainly been busy at Brookes Westshore!

Graduation is getting very close and our first IB Exam is on Friday, April 28th.  All students have their exam schedules and I have encouraged them to share this information with their parents. We all wish them the very best during this very stressful time in their education. They are all well prepared and are ready!!

Thank you to everyone who helped with the Community BBQ last Friday (photos below). It was wonderful to see so many parents attend, and the students had a wonderful time.

Remember: Our Silent Auction in support of the Ukraine Scholarship Fund is on April 28th. Tickets are selling fast - see here for details on how to get yours. We'd love to see you there! 

With kind regards,

Linda Bayes

Deputy Head of School

Silent Auction in support of the Ukrainian Students Scholarship Fund

Friday April 28th from 7 to 9 pm

Join us and enjoy delicious appetizers and desserts, with a glass of wine in hand! 

You can see the items you will be able to bid on here. 

Please join us for the evening of the 28th and help us support the Ukraine Students Scholarship Fund!

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has sourced donations, and to the local businesses and organizations who have contributed so generously!

Tickets are on sale now!

Grade level theme baskets

There's still time to add to the grade level theme baskets for the auction! Deadline is April 26th.

Basket Themes:

• Grade 4 - Summer/Beach Basket
• Grade 5 - Family Night Basket 
• Grade 6 – Chocolate/ Fancy Snacks/ Wine
• Grade 7- Health & Wellness/ Fitness
• Grade 8 - Spa/ Beauty 
• Grade 9 - Charcuterie/ Fancy Snacks
• Grade 10 - Weekend Getaway/ Road Trip
• Grade 11 - Date Night
• Grade 12 - BBQ and Beer

Thank you!

The Silent Auction Committee

Remember - donations are still open!

If you can't make it to the auction, please consider a donation - click here for our fundraising page.

Thanks to everyone who has already donated - we have raised nearly $16,000 already - let's keep it going!

Service at Brookes Westshore

As an IB school, service is an essential component of our curriculum and a core value our students are encouraged to embrace. Through service, students learn to develop empathy, compassion, and an appreciation for the needs of others. Our students have a wide range of service opportunities that allow them to engage with our local community and beyond. Here are some examples of the service projects done/planned by our students.

• Grades 4 and 5 are working together to start a school garden project. They are starting germination of three vegetables plants in class: corn, beans, and pumpkin. This is following the Three Sisters planting method, a First Nations method for successfully growing these vegetables. This week, students researched the key information they’d need to germinate the seeds and get them ready for planting. The big idea is that we’d like to build a garden box somewhere on campus eventually to have this project grow into next year.  – Grade 4 leader: Ms. Jesse Junck and Grade 5 leader: Ms. Alexe Lodin
• MYP 1 (Grade 6): two big projects on the go! One is planning at least one visit to a retirement home to spend quality time with residents and engage in meaningful activities. The other is preparing to lead fun Friday, starting off today, which is Earth-Day themed! – MYP 1 leader: Mme Julia Friedmann
• MYP 2 (Grade 7) class is planning to help the kids at BC Children’s Hospital by participating in Jeans Up and other activities (more info to come in the future Newsletter). – MYP 2 leader: Mr. Devin Gallery
• MYP 3 (Grade 8) class is working on Food Drive to help people who are less fortunate. – MYP 3 leader: Ms. Kayleigh McIntosh
• MYP 4 (Grade 9) did a great job with the Ukrainian student fundraiser barbecue event last Friday. Some also did beach cleanup, IB Learner profile box, and Halloween face painting as their service project. – MYP 4 leader: Ms. Kate Barton
• MYP 5 (Grade 10) service projects include bake sale, Pink Shirt Day assembly, Music Club ASA, Pancake breakfast. – MYP 5 leader: Mr. Oliver Wood
• DP (Grade 11 and 12) service projects include Global Awareness Fair, making birdhouses, Instagram project, Terry Fox Run, TEDx talks at RRU, Anti-bullying campaign, and senior visits. – DP CAS Coordinator: Erin Sask

This Thursday, our students had a chance to showcase their service project during the community block. We are so proud to see our students develop a sense of responsibility and become active global citizens who are committed to making a positive impact in the world.

With gratitude,

Rui Li

Vice Principal of Academics / DP Coordinator

DP Visual Arts

For the last two weeks students in the DP Visual Arts students have been exhibiting their finished works in the dining hall.  We can't show you close ups of individual pieces until they have been assessed by the IB, but you can see that the students put a lot of hard work and passion into their pieces, and the exhibition.

The IB Diploma Programme visual arts course encourages students to challenge their own creative and cultural expectations and boundaries. It is a thought-provoking course in which students develop analytical skills in problem-solving and divergent thinking, while working towards technical proficiency and confidence as art-makers. In addition to exploring and comparing visual arts from different perspectives and in different contexts, students are expected to engage in, experiment with and critically reflect upon a wide range of contemporary practices and media. The course is designed for students who want to go on to study visual arts in higher education as well as for those who are seeking lifelong enrichment through visual arts.

Students select and present resolved works for exhibition. Students explain the ways in which the works are connected. Students discuss how artistic judgments impact the overall presentation.

Personal Project Exhibition – April 28th

 The Personal Project Exhibition is an event to celebrate the hard work and achievement of our MYP5 class at reaching the individual interest learning and product goals that they set at the beginning of the year. The exhibition is the culminating event that showcases their respective journeys through one of the most challenging individual projects they have had to date.

The exhibition will take place April 28^th from 2:15 - 3:20 PM, in the dining hall at Brookes Westshore. Students are excited to share their journey through the project, including highlights and advice for anyone on planning and executing their own personal projects.

Our MYP3 and MYP4 students will also be in attendance, as they are the next students to be completing their projects in the next couple of years. I know that they are curious about learning more about what the project is about from their older classmates. 

I am very proud of what the MYP5 students have accomplished, and I look forward to sharing this event with the school. 

Melanie Moroz

Personal Project Coordinator

Earth Day Fun Friday

Today the MYP 1 hosted an Earth-day themed Fun lunch. There were stations around the dining hall and the MYP 1 classroom (room 217). Students took part in sustainable activities like a Kahoot, rock painting, making a seed bombs and starting a seed planter!

Community BBQ

Last Friday the MYP 5 students planned and hosted a community BBQ for students and families. The BBQ was a huge success - we had lots of fun with the games and activities that the students ran and raised an amazing $ 2,438.55 for the Ukraine Scholarship Fund! Congratulations to everyone who made it such an enjoyable evening, and thanks to all of you who came out in support of this initiative! 

Paddle Boarding ASA

CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service)

Grade 11 and 12 Biology students are enjoying some great service learning at the Royal Roads Environmental Science outreach program with Dr. Mickie Noble. Students have been working in the new labs at RRU with Kindergarten and Grade 1 students- showing them how fun science is! 

Student Leadership Council - Service Committee Fair

The Service Committee of the SLC hosted a fair on Thursday to showcase all the amazing service projects that students have undertaken in the last school year. This was a great opportunity for students to celebrate their hard work, as well as to inspire their peers as they work towards their next service-learning projects.

MYP 5 Students head of to Tofino for the weekend!

Dorm students at the Pacific FC match last weekend.

Tish and Susie (MYP 5) are part of a musical theatre production (PACE) and their show opens next weekend! If you'd like to watch a great show and support our students - shows are on April 28th - 30th and May 12th -14th. See below for details!

Do you have questions?

If you have a question about the school or just something on your mind, please feel free to contact our leadership team:

• Rui Li - Vice Principal and DP Coordinator
• Andrea Salvador - School Manager / Events
• Jacob Baumgartner - Community and Wellness Coordinator
• Melanie Moroz - MYP Coordinator