Dear Brookes Westshore Families and Friends,
Thank you to all the parents and families who joined us for our Winter Concert celebration last night! Your presence made the evening even more special. A huge round of applause goes to our talented students for their outstanding performances, showcasing innovative thinking, principled teamwork, and risk-taking – key attributes of the IB Learner Profile. I’d also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all staff and student volunteers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, embodying the IB values of commitment and service, and made the event a success. What a wonderful way to celebrate our shared spirit of learning and global mindedness this season!
Term 1 learning updates are issued today. All parents/guardians are encouraged to download a copy from ManageBac for your own files. We also encourage parents/guardians to take time to review your child(ren)’s progress and celebrate their achievements in Term 1.
A reminder that there will be no ASA next week and the last day of school before winter break is December 13th (early dismissal at 12:00).
With gratitude,
Dr. Rui Li
Principal
Pancake Breakfast - Saturday, December 14th
Tickets and details here!
Join us next Saturday for a fun morning of pancakes, fruit, hot chocolate, live acoustic music, and Santa!
All proceeds go to the Goldstream Food Bank to support those in need in our local community!
Lost and Found
Please come by and check the lost and found bins before Winter Break. The bins are located in the gym and dining hall, no longer in the lobby. All items not claimed will be donated on December 13th
Thank you!
Brookes Westshore students at Tower Bridge, London
Save the Date: Spring Break Trips 2025
We have two amazing opportunities for our students coming up in March 2025.
Every year students from Brookes Westshore travel either to our sister school in the UK, or around our home province of beautiful British Columbia.
Both trips are full of adventure, fun, and learning opportunities!
The two trips available to students for Spring Break 2025 are:
UK Spring Break Tour (March 16th - 28th)
Based at our sister school in the historic town of Bury St Edmunds, students are a short trip from world renowned Cambridge University, and just a couple of hours from London. Students will get to visit Shakespeare's birthplace at Stratford, visit the famous London Dungeons and much more!
BC Winter Tour / skiing trip - (March 17th - 28th)
Traveling around our stunning home province, students will have the chance to ski at Mt Washington and Whistler, visit Vancouver for shopping and a Canucks game, as well as chilling out at the Harrison Hot Springs.
Full details of the trips - including costs - will be announced next week!
The London Dungeons
Beautiful BC!
The Butchart Gardens
Our dorm students enjoyed one of Victoria's best loved attractions last weekend - a visit to The Butchart Gardens annual winter festival of light. The Butchart Gardens are a 120-year-old, 55-acre display garden located in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia. Created by Jennie Butchart, and still privately owned and operated by the family, The Gardens was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, in 2004 for its one hundredth birthday.
Students have been out and about buying toys for Toy Drive 2024!
DP1 Service Project – Food and Toy Drive 2024
We thank you for your contribution and support!
Over the past few weeks, many Brookes students have been working hard to raise food and toys for the Goldstream Food Bank and the CFAX toy drive. We would like to thank Agneya and Liath, and many others who have helped contribute to this valuable cause. December 11th is your last chance to donate, so make sure that you get involved and don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to gain karma points.
There are boxes in the front lobby where you can place the toys you wish to donate.
As a bonus there will be house points awarded to the house with the most donations! Please come in and donate food and toys to bring joy to the children of Victoria!
A bit of fun in PE with a real-life Hungry Hippo match!
Congratulations to the Senior Girls' Volleyball Team on an excellent showing at the BC Provincial Championships this weekend! The team placed 12th in BC - an amazing achievement for everyone involved. Every game was close, and our girls fought hard for every point. We are so proud of you all! Congratulations to everyone on the team and a huge thank you to Mr. T and Mr. Thom for all their support throughout the season.
Massive congratulations to the Grade 8 Boys' Basketball Team who finished 2nd in the Lower Vancouver Island Competitive Division (Brookes’ highest ever finish!). Huge thanks to coach Luke for all his hard work and dedication. Go Gryphons!
The Brookes Hockey Academy aims to offer aspiring players the ability to learn new on-ice skills or refine their expertise. The academy practices Tuesday and Thursday morning before school down at the Juan de Fuca arena. The inaugural year for the program so far has been a huge success! All the coaches are very proud of the positive attitudes and hard work from each student. We will continue to practice until the end of April.
A book recommendation from Alice:
The last day of school before winter break is December 13th and students will be released at 12:00 after lunch. There will be supervision available if parents are not able to pick up their child at this time.
The Hockey Programme's last day is December 12th.
Term 2 ASA Sign Up starts during the last week of school (December 9th - 13th). More details will be in next week's Gryphon Gazette.
If you have any questions about ASAs, feel free to contact Brooklyn at bmayoh@westshore.brookes.org.
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
- December 9th to 13th: School Spirit Week
- Friday, December 13th: Noon Dismissal
- Saturday, December 14th: Pancake Breakfast
Key dates of 2023 to 2025: Key Dates 2024 / 2026 - 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.
