Dear Brookes Westshore Families and Friends,

Congratulations to our volleyball teams this year. The senior boys are currently competing in Duncan at the Provincials tournament and are doing very well (see below for images and details). 

The last day for this term's ASAs is December 9th.  It has been a wonderful term with a wide variety of ASAs for students to explore learning outside the classroom.

The toy drive and food drive were very successful this year. The items collected will be distributed next week. Toys will go to the CFAX Toy Drive, and the food goes to the Goldstream Food Bank. Thanks to everyone who contributed so generously! 

There will be an early release from school on December 15th at 1405 to give more time for teachers to attend parent teacher conferences.  Watch for a Schools Buddy invitation to schedule your virtual appointment for Grade 6-12 classes. The Grade 4 and 5 class will be holding student-led conferences. Ms. Alexe and Ms. Jesse will share the details separately with parents.

The last day of school before the Winter Break is December 16th. Students will be dismissed at 12.30. 

Grade 12 students continue to work on university applications, and I would like to remind parents that most deadlines for Canadian Universities happen mid-late January.  We received our first acceptance this week from the University of Alberta for the Faculty of Science - Engineering.  Congratulations Jiyoung Min!

With kind regards,

Linda Bayes

Deputy Head of School

Winter Concert is this Thursday!

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, December 8th at the Winter Concert from 6.30 to 8 pm. 

Showcasing our talented students, we will open up areas of our school for short performances by our students - individually and in groups. Enjoy a hot chocolate and spend time in each 'venue' supporting students and enjoying the festive atmosphere.

If you would like to come and watch the students perform - please RSVP here. See you all there!

We have had a very successful term 1, with a lot of learning and growing, both inside and outside of classrooms. While reflecting on their achievements in the month of November:

• Grade 4 students are proud of their salmon narratives and their biome projects, but they are most proud of how high quality these projects turned out due to their hard work. – Grade 4 leader: Ms. Jesse Junck
• Grade 5 students are proud of how they deepened their mathematical thinking this month! We are working with fractions. – Grade 5 leader: Ms. Alexe Lodin
• MYP 1 (Grade 6) students are most proud of finishing some big summaries and dressing as teachers! – MYP 1 leader: Mme Julia Friedmann
• MYP 2 (Grade 7) students are most proud of themselves for utilizing their communication skills and being courageous by asking their teachers for extensions on assessments and tasks. – MYP 2 leader: Mr. Devin Gallery
• MYP 3 (Grade 8) students are very proud of how well they have been working to keep their classroom clean. They have developed a sense of shared responsibility for their learning space and demonstrate the Caring IB learner profile in doing so! As well, MYP 3 students feel they are using their reading block more effectively than ever before and are using this time wisely to nurture their love of reading. Finally, MYP 3 students are proud of their progress in Math. They are learning about patterns, a difficult topic, but are practicing perseverance and seeing the results of their efforts. – MYP 3 leader: Ms. Kayleigh McIntosh
• MYP 4 (Grade 9) students have finished the term exploring the same social strengths as they did in the beginning. They all rallied behind, and were very supportive of, their Volleyball and Design team stars - this was a true reflection of Brookes spirit! – MYP 4 leader: Ms. Kate Barton
• MYP 5 (Grade 10) students have shown initiative and actively participated in a range of service projects, such as gym duty, assisting with Fun Fridays, and running a music ASA. – MYP 5 leader: Mr. Oliver Wood
• DP 1 (Grade 11) students have had a whirlwind first semester! They have been reflecting on their first term goals while exploring new strategies to improve areas of focus, such as time management, summative preparation, essay writing and effective communication. – DP 1 leader: Mr. Matthew Healing
• DP 2 (Grade 12) students had a super busy month in November as they have been busy with Extended Essay, Internal Assessments, and university applications. They have truly demonstrated perseverance in November!  – DP 2 leader: Mr. Gary Ward

I am very proud of our students’ growth throughout term 1 and our teachers’ great work to support student learning inside and outside of the classroom. I believe term 2 will be even better with continuous student growth and development!

With kind regards,

Rui Li

Vice Principal

School Wide Ski Trip to Mt Washington Alpine Resort

Join us for a full day of fun in the snow on Wednesday, January 18th! This trip is always a favourite for our students (see photos for past year's trips)! We will ski or snowboard for the day at Mt Washington, Vancouver Islands local ski mountain.

All information, details and registration can be found in Schoolsbuddy. Please read all of the details carefully as there is important information about our students' skill level and whether you will need a lesson or not as well as Gr 4-6 supervision packages.

Registration opens today at 5:00pm and will close December 14^th at 8:00pm. It is very important that registration is complete by December 14th, as we need to finalize our numbers for the trip before the winter break.

Please email Ms. Aija if you have any questions about the ski trip and please email Mr. Grant or Ms. Aija if you have any problems logging into your schoolsbuddy account. 

We look forward to seeing you all up on the mountain!

Grade 4 and 7 students had the opportunity this week to experience some hands-on learning with Seaquaria Ocean Education. There will be a series of six similar presentations over the coming weeks, where students will explore the invertebrates of our oceans. The first phlya explored this week was porifera. In January there will also be a series of sessions for Grade 5 and 6.

Student Leadership Council UNICEF presentation

This week the Student Leadership Council toured classrooms, introducing students to the history and work of UNICEF. As an IB World School we place an emphasis on students developing a global awareness and demonstrating international mindedness in all their activities. The SLC are doing a great job in supporting these initiatives and were eager to start the conversation with our youngest students - as you can see in these photos. 

MYP 4 Students win Bronze Prize at the Westmont Design Prize competition!

Congratulations to four MYP4 students who were awarded the Bronze Prize ($2,500 for educational scholarships) in the Westmont Design Competition – well done! The winners of the prize are Kate, Julia, Mariana and Tish. Everyone at Brookes Westshore is very proud of your amazing accomplishment.  

Kudos to the MYP 2 Students who entered the Westmont prize 2022.  (Savannah, Max, Nathan, Emma.) They were given excellent feedback and represented the youngest age group participating in the event. They gave Brookes their all for this ambitious project.

(You can see both groups video submissions below.)

Victoria Santa Parade 2022

Last Saturday a group of staff, students and parents took part in the Victoria Santa Parade. The weather was cold, but our hearts were warm! The crowds cheered us along as we walked along through the downtown core of Victoria. Our Gryphon mascot was a big hit - scoring a starring role on the the TV coverage! 

Royal BC Museum Trip

This week, the combined French MYP 2/3 classes went to the Royal BC Museum to examine some of our local fauna and flora in more detail and to look at the authentic totems found in Thunderbird Park. The students enjoyed completing their questionnaire and learning from all the different displays. We then looked at some old totems currently preserved for display only. They really enjoyed the experience and were engaged and courteous the entire time!

Students have been watching their home nation teams in the FIFA World Cup this week - there have been cheers and tears as teams progress to the round of 16 (or don't). A shared love of sport is a great way for students from around the world to come together and build connections. 

Our Senior Boys Volleyball team are playing at the Provincials tournament right now. They are battling hard and showing great character in their determination to give their best performance on the largest stage yet. With fantastic effort they won all three of their games on Wednesday and won their group! Go Gryphons! 

Games are available to watch (live and recorded) on the BCSports Youtube channel here.  Their next game is on Saturday morning at 9.45 am.

Your Medical Health Officers recommend influenza vaccines for children

With influenza season here, we want to remind parents that vaccines are available for children and are a very effective way to reduce the risk of severe disease. We are seeing children hospitalized from influenza here on the 
island. Vaccination is particularly important for children under 5 years old, who are at a higher risk of harm. 

To get your child vaccinated against influenza, register them in the provincial Get Vaccinated system online at www.getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca or by calling 1-833-838-2323. Most Island Health clinics allow for up to two immediate family members to be vaccinated during a child appointment, depending on supply and capacity.  

If your chpptild needs to get up-to-date with routine childhood vaccines (eg. diphtheria, tetanus whooping cough, polio, measles, chickenpox, hepatitis B) or if you have questions about these call your local public health unit. Influenza vaccines can be provided at the same time. 

For more information on influenza vaccines, visit islandhealth.ca/learn-about-health/the-flu-influenza, or call your local public health unit. 

There will be a flu/covid vaccine clinic at the school on December 8th.

Dorm students can enjoy the following activities this weekend:

• Friday 7:00pm: Christmas Movie "Spirited" with local students in the dining hall and a concession!
• Saturday: Cheer on the Senior Boys Volleyball Team at the Provincial Championships (Time to be determined)
• Saturday 6:00pm: Nutcracker at the Royal Theatre
• Saturday 7:30pm: Taiwanese Dumplings with Ms. Billie
• Sunday 1:00pm: Ice Skating at JDF
• Sunday 2:30pm: Decorate the Christmas Tree & Paint Christmas Ornaments

Please sign up for all activities in activities book! 

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 Business Manager / Events
• Jacob Baumgartner - Community and Wellness Coordinator
• Melanie Moroz - MYP Coordinator