Dear Brookes Westshore Families and Friends,
Thanks to all parents and teachers for your time, effort, and commitment during this week’s Parent-Teacher Conferences. Your dedication to open communication and partnership helps create a supportive learning environment for our students. We are grateful for the opportunity to connect and work together towards their success!
Today, our MYP5 students took the lead in hosting a thoughtful Remembrance Day Ceremony, bringing the spirit of respect, empathy, and reflection into our daily life. Together, we honoured the sacrifices made by those who have served and reflected on our shared responsibility in creating a more peaceful world. Our students truly demonstrated their commitment to the IB Learner Profile, especially as open-minded and caring individuals, in honouring this important ceremony.
With gratitude,
Dr. Rui Li
Principal
MYP Assessment Information Session — November 20th at 4PM
Join us to learn more about Brookes' IB criteria-based assessment practice, including how teachers create and manage assessment tasks to evaluate student skills. We will cover the use of the MYP A-B-C-D Assessment criteria to inform and evaluate student skill development and achievement. Finally, we will show how the IB MYP assessment aligns with BC Ministry expectations and proficiency scale.
If you want to know what to expect on our term 1 MYP learning updates, please join us and bring your burning questions. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Note that students are not required to attend this information session.
Please RSVP to events@westshore.brookes.org
The Teenage Years - A Roadmap for Parents
Last chance to respond!
We are offering another opportunity for parents to attend the workshop on the 'Teenage Years' on November 28th with our school counsellor Ms. Kat.
We don't know what time works best for the most families so have two time slots under consideration: 3.30 pm to 5pm or 6.30 pm to 8 pm.
Please select the session time that works best for you here.
We will collect this information and follow up with sign-up for the session that works best for the most people. Thank you.
Save the Date: Winter Concert on Thursday, December 5th
Students are practicing and preparing their skits, songs, dances, and acts. Don't miss it!
Save the Date! Annual Pancake Breakfast - Saturday, December 14th
Call out for volunteers: We love to have parents and students involved! Every year we have a crew of greeters and servers for the pancake breakfast. If you would like to be a part of making this event a success, please email us at events@westshore.brookes.org.
We will be serving pancakes with local, organic strawberries, whip cream, sausages, hot chocolate, coffee, and tea.
The fun starts at 9.30 am, with a second sitting at 11 am.
All proceeds will go to the Goldstream Food Bank to support those in need in our local community!
Tickets will go on sale soon!
Lost and Found
Our lost and found bins are overflowing! We have a rack of clothing and water bottles in the lobby, please help us by checking if any of the items are yours. We will be donating any items not claimed at the end of next week (Friday November 15th).
We go through the lost and found bins once per week. Any uniform items in the lost and found are checked for names, if it is labeled with a student’s name, we will put it aside in the front lobby to claim.
Some fun photos of our students enjoying life to the fullest!
Here are three book recommendations from our students:
Hailey I am 11. I like the Land of Story's The Wishing Spell it is by Chris Colfer.
It is a fantasy. Twins Alex and Conner visit a storybook where they are trying to get back home by trying to collect items for the wishing spell to wish to go home then there is a twist at the end where their grandma is the fairy godmother.
I think readers might enjoy all the plot twists all through the book.
I learn about different stories and before and after life of different characters.
I’m Arlo in DP2 (17 years old), and my book recommendation is The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It is a historical fiction based largely on the Illiad by Homer. The book is written in the perspective of Patroclus, a young prince and very dear “friend” of Achilles, a warrior with great strength and beauty who is known as “the best of all the Greeks.” The story follows Patroclus’ and Achilles’ fateful meeting, the forging of their inseparable bond, and the war that threatens to tear them apart. Readers world-wide have enjoyed the story for its unique take on the legend of Achilles by having it told from the perspective of Patroclus, and for its LGBTQ+ twist on the Illiad. After reading Miller’s novel, I gained a new level of understanding and appreciation for Greek mythology and the concept of love.
Recruitment in Japan
Our recruitment team - Sheri and Satsuki - are in Japan working hard to connect prospective students with our school, explaining the advantages of a Brookes Westshore education, and bringing together current and former Brookes students and parents to build our global community of families.
Congratulations to Jeongmin (DP2) who has been accepted to the University of Leicester, UK to study Biochemistry. Well done, Jeongmin!
November 20th at 10:15 – a UBC recruiter will be in Room 207 talking with interested DP2 students.
November 21st at 10:30 – University of Alberta recruiter will be in Room 202 talking with interested DP2 students.
Art 6 is finishing up our third unit called Boop the Snoot which involves learning depth of field, oil pastel techniques, tracing techniques and how to make homemade custom scratch boards.
A shout out to the Ryan family and their amazing Brookes Gryphon pumpkin carving! Thanks so much for sharing. Mr. B has agreed to award House Points to Orca for your efforts! Congratulations!
And here are the winners of the school Pumpkin Carving Contest:
Grade 7/8 Boys' Basketball Team Goes to 5 - 0
After beating Colquitz school 66 - 23 on Wednesday night the Grade 7/8 Boys' Team stays undefeated. The team returns to action on Wednesday at Pacific Christian School. Go Gryphons!
Congratulations to our Senior Girls' Volleyball Team who have qualified for Islands. The tournament is in Nanaimo next Tuesday and Wednesday - we wish our team the best of luck in the competition!
Lunch Menu
If you would like to know what is on the menu next week for our delicious lunches, please click here.
Follow our dining team on @brookesdiningwestshore for mouthwatering images of our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners!
Term One Events and Activities
- Saturday, November 30th: Times Colonist Santa's Parade
- School Spirit Week: December 9th to 13th
- Thursday, December 5th: Winter Concert
- Saturday, December 14th: Pancake Breakfast
Key dates of 2023 to 2025: Key Dates 2024 / 2025 - Brookes Westshore
Please find our School Accessibility questionnaire here.
Safer Schools information: erase Family Sessions (saferschoolstogether.com)
Your comments and feedback are welcome! Please click here to leave a comment, ask a question, or raise an issue. Thank you!
Do you have questions or concerns?
If you have a question about the school or just something on your mind, please feel free to contact our leadership team:
- Rui Li - Principal
- Andrea Salvador - School Manager
- Jacob Baumgartner - School Culture Director
- Melanie Moroz - Academic Director
- Linda Bayes - DP Coordinator & University Counsellor
- Martin Staffolani - Executive Director of Recruitment
Please consider posting a review
If you have a minute, it will really help us to reach new families if you could consider posting a positive review online on Google or here (you will need to log in to the OurKids website to leave a review here). Prospective families love to hear from current parents about your real experiences here!
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.
