Dorm students had a chance to try out their improvisation skills last week - much laughter followed and we will be hosting more of these in the future!
Dear Brookes Westshore Families and Friends,
As an IB school, we believe that education goes beyond the classroom. It’s about shaping caring, responsible global citizens. Over the past few weeks and throughout the year, our students have been living the IB mission by putting compassion into action through meaningful service projects, including fundraising for children’s health, supporting animal welfare, hosting sports tournaments to raise awareness, cleaning up invasive species, cooking for those in need, and more! We are proud of our students for showing that even small actions can make a big impact, and we thank our community for supporting their efforts!
Remember that Monday is Victoria Day, so there are no classes; and I am looking forward to the Graduation Ceremony next Friday and the opportunity to celebrate with the families and friends of our Class of 2025!
With gratitude,
Dr. Rui Li
Principal
Yearbook 2025 Pre-Sale on Now!
Pre-order your yearbook now until May 20th with delivery on May 22nd. Please submit the order form to complete your order!
Exploring Intellectual Property with a Community Expert
This week, MYP4 students had the unique opportunity to hear from a special guest James Ramsbottom an intellectual property (IP) lawyer and parent from our school community. James visited their Design and Math classes to share insights into the world of innovation, creativity, and legal protection.
The session was a perfect real-world connection to the IB Design curriculum, which emphasizes the importance of design thinking, problem-solving, and the ethical use of ideas. Students explored how intellectual property laws—covering patents, trademarks, and copyrights—play a crucial role in protecting original ideas and encouraging innovation across industries.
Our guest speaker highlighted how understanding IP is essential not only for inventors and entrepreneurs but also for students as they develop their own design projects. The discussion also tied into the IB Learner Profile, particularly the attribute of being principled. Students reflected on the importance of academic honesty and giving proper credit when using others’ ideas—an essential practice in both school and professional life.
A fun fact that surprised many: while inventions and creative works can be protected by IP laws, mathematical principles themselves cannot be copyrighted or patented—they belong to everyone!
We are very grateful to James for sharing his time and expertise. If you are a parent with a career or passion you'd like to share with our students, please reach out to Ms. Barton (kbarton@westshore.brookes.org). We’d love to hear from you!
Brookes Westshore grade 7 and 8 students joined thousands of other students across Canada competing in the Waterloo CEMC Math contest on Wednesday, May 14th. Congratulations Jaxon, Steven, Airlie, Sophie, Nikita, Alex, Armin, David, Ethan, Levi, Kobe, Victoria, Kingston, Finn and Pria for participating in this country wide math contest!
MYP3 Design students have been learning about video advertising and have enjoyed putting together their own adverts for their fictional products (see below for four examples).
Our Mothers' Day Market was a huge success - the SLC Creativity Committee put a lot of work into organising it and it showed! Thanks to all the families who came along and helped to lift our spirits with love and gratitude for our amazing mothers!
Our thanks to Russell Books for supporting our Book Fair this week!
Congratulations to the grade 6 - 8 track and field team who braved the inclement weather this week to compete in their second track meet of the season. We had 11 students competing in the 100 m sprints!
And later in the week Rylan placed 3rd in the senior boys’ discus - Go Gryphons!
A select group of international recruitment agents joined us for lunch and a tour on Thursday. They had a great visit and particularly enjoyed the time they spent chatting with current students and learning about life at the school from the students' perspective. Connecting with agents from around the world helps us to strengthen the international element of our school and will bring more students from around the world to Brookes Westshore.
Our local Great Blue Heron was keeping an eye on students on Thursday.
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 Two Events and Activities
- Monday, May 19th: Victoria Day (no classes)
- Graduation Ceremony: Friday, May 23rd
- June 3rd Grade 4 Camp Thunderbird trip
- June 4th MYP1 Camp Thunderbird trip
- June 5th MYP2 Camp Thunderbird trip
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.
