Ms. Jesse presenting to the grade 4 and 5 families.

I would like to thank the many parents of Grade 4 and 5 students who were on campus this morning for a Parent Information and Coffee morning.  The youngest students at our school have been settling in nicely to the school routines and Ms. Jesse and Ms. Alexe were on hand to provide parents with an overview of the academic program for this age group. It was wonderful to have this opportunity to meet with parents.

Our next Parent Information Coffee morning will be in November and the focus of this session will be MYP assessment practices.

Interim report cards will be released on October 21st. These reports are very short in nature and provide a glimpse of academic performance.  There will not be teachers comments or grades, but the report provides a work habit and achievement level.  We use these reports to identify students who require additional support. The term 1 report will be issued on December 9th and are very comprehensive.

I feel the year is off to a wonderful start and the climate and culture of learning is present everywhere. Students have been very engaged and motivated to learn.

With thanks, 

Linda Bayes

Deputy Head of School

The Grade 4 classroom windows are full of colour!

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving weekend Sage Dining prepared a delicious turkey dinner for our boarding students. We are so thankful for our kitchen staff who always prepare nutritious snacks and meals for us.

After the Thanksgiving long weekend, we had another great week of school!

We are thankful for our students who have been working hard and supporting each other in school.

We are thankful for our teachers who have been great role models for our students to show their passion for learning and to inspire the students inside and outside the classroom.

We are thankful for our non-teaching staff who make equally important contributions to the success of our students and school

We are thankful for our parents who are supportive of our school vision, mission, and values regarding the education of the students.

Together, we help our students discover their passion, develop their character, and understand their connection to others and society.

Thank you,

Rui Li

Vice Principal

Thanksgiving in the Dining Hall

Individuals & Societies (MYP 5) - The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

Our students in I&S (MYP 5) have recently been participating in an exercise designed to provide them with more insight into the Treaty of Versailles, the peace treaty between the Allies and Germany that ended World War I.

Students were assigned one of the 'Big Three' nations at the Paris Peace Conference: France, Britain, and the United States. In their separate groups, they discussed what terms their country would want to offer Germany in the peace treaty and come up with a strategy on how to convince the other nations to agree. Students needed to pursue a policy in keeping with their nation's historical aims. 

Then the real action began! All three groups met as a whole and discussed, negotiated...and argued (quite passionately at times) until a treaty was hammered out.

After it was all over, we compared the students' fictional treaty with the historical one. It was interesting how similar the students' treaty was to the real one, although an unhistorical result nearly happened when the United States almost ended up with the German province of Schleswig-Holstein!

Updated Information and Technologies Agreement (reminder)

It is very important to us that you understand how and what technology is used at Brookes Westshore, and that we have your permission for your child/children to use technology while at school.  Many thanks!

If you haven't already, please complete our updated Information and Technologies Form here.

Halloween 2021 Costume Contest - there were some amazing costumes last year!

Halloween

We have a lot of events and activities lined up for Halloween this year! Always a fun and spooky time of year - this year's celebrations will include:

Thursday October 27th: Pumpkin Carving competition for House points during Community Block! 

Friday October 28th: 

• Lunchtime movie with popcorn
• Dance Night
  • Grade 4 to Grade 7 (MYP 2) - 3.30 pm to 5 pm pick up  
  • Grade 8 to 12 (MYP 3 to DP2) - 7pm to 10 pm
  • Get your Thriller moves ready!

Monday, October 31st: 

Costume Contest for all - 12.45 in the courtyard

Introduction to Charissa Butler, our Director of Residence.

I joined Brookes Westshore this summer as Director of Residence. Along with an incredible team of dorm parents, we oversee the care and growth of our students living on campus. Brookes has a great residence program which welcomes students and staff from all over the world! 

I was raised in the interior of BC and have had an enthusiasm for travel and learning about other cultures since I was young. As soon as I graduated from high school, I moved to London, England for a 'gap year'. After that I did a bit of travel within Canada and the US and ended up in Victoria for my first degree. Fast forward some years and some world travel and work and the completion of my second degree in education, I moved to Shanghai, China. I spent 8 years in Shanghai and truly loved it. My favorite things to do are hike with my son, cycle, and bake.

I feel so lucky to be working in dorms with the Brookes community and getting to know our incredible students! 

Dorm activities this last weekend included some paintball fun at TNT Paintball in the forests of East Sooke. 

Upcoming Volleyball matches at Brookes Westshore.

We are hosting a few volleyball games next week.

The senior girls' volleyball team is hosting Spectrum on Tuesday, October 18th. The first game is at 6:00 pm.

The senior boys' volleyball team is hosting Victor Brodeur and Stelly's on Wednesday, October 19th. The first game is at 6:00 pm.

Please come along and support our teams if you can!

Senior Girls' Volleyball Match

On Tuesday, the senior girls' volleyball team travelled to Parkland Secondary for a pair of matches. 

Their first game was against Mount Doug 2. It was a particular intense game, very riveting to watch. The team played extremely well, with excellent serving, defense, and setting up many powerful attacks. The team won 25-22 and 25-20.

The second game was against the host school. This game came with challenges in that the Parkland team had a number of very tall players. Our team was surging with excitement after their first game, though, and continued with their excellent play, winning 25-20 and 25-12. 

Junior Girls' Volleyball Match

The junior girls travelled to Oak Bay Secondary on Wednesday to play three matches.

The first game was against Lambrick Park. The team started well, securing a comfortable lead through solid serving that kept Lambrick Park on the defensive. Our team won both sets (25-14; 25-15).

Next up was Oak Bay, the host and one of the top teams in the city. In the first set, our team went down early but battled back to lose a respectable 19-25. In the second set, the team bounced back to go ahead and came close to winning before a resurgent Oak Bay edged us out 25-23 to secure the win. The girls will hope to see Oak Bay again and are confident that they can challenge them.

The third match was against Pacific Christian School. The girls were anxious to put the last match behind them and began the match brightly. Their coach was really pleased seeing them really starting to click offensively, playing solid 3-hit volleyball and delivering many excellent spikes. Despite some excellent defense from Pacific Christian, Brookes was able to win both sets (25-12; 25-19).

Senior Boys' Volleyball

The Senior Boys Volleyball team played last night against Esquimalt high school (AA) and Spectrum high school (AAA). The boys beat Spectrum in two sets 25-23 and 25-14. They rolled into their next match against Esquimalt and beat them in two sets 25-20 and 25-14. The boys are now ranked 3^rd out of 18 teams on Vancouver Island!

Go Gryphons!

Rowing at Brookes Westshore

Brookes Westshore School students eagerly put their blades in the water this September as we started our first term of rowing club.

Students are so keen on rowing for Brookes that they are hoping to start a yearlong Brookes rowing academy. This September students have been training at the Gorge and typically row on a stretch starting from the Johnson Street bridge up to the Tillicum Street bridge.

‘Rowing is a fantastic team sport” said the Brooke’s rowing coach Talia, with a crew of rowers following instructions to pull in the same direction. “There’s no star athlete.” The emphasis of the academy will be on gaining skills rather than on competition, Talia added.

Kids don’t have to start training at an early age to develop good skills. “It’s not like hockey or swimming where people have to get a very early start to be proficient,” said Talia. But rowers who excel at a competitive level can apply for athletic scholarships at many universities, she said.

We have been so lucky with the stunning weather we have had this September/October and have had the pleasure of going out on the water almost every practice but when the cooler weather rolls around students will have the luxury of doing some of the training inside on the rowing machines, (also known as ergometers or ergs).  The ergs use both upper and lower body on every stroke.

The rowing academy will be for students in grades 8 to 12. We currently have 10 kids on the Brooke’s rowing team, but we are hoping for an enrolment of between 15 and 25 students for the first year of the academy. (Students are welcome to register now for this year)

We are currently rowing on Tuesday, Thursday (4:00-6:00) and Saturday (9:00-11:00) and would hope to continue with this schedule during the academy.

Brooke Westshore's rowers will be participating in two rowing regattas at Elk Lake on Saturday October 15th and Saturday November 5th.

The first regatta (this Saturday at Elk lake from 8:00-5:00) is held by the Greater Victoria Youth Rowing Society. They host this 1000m sprint event yearly and it is intended for novice and experienced high school athletes from the Greater Victoria area who are involved in the GVYRS Fall Season. 

Brookes Rowers have been working hard!  We expect some great results this weekend. Please come and cheer us on.

https://goo.gl/maps/EBcdY5oeimYemcgw9

Elk Lake 5100 Patricia Bay Highway

(We will meet at the Brookes Westshore tent)

We are excited to get Brookes back in the “coxswain’s seat” with an academy.

Anyone interested in joining the rowing academy can contact Ms. Aija Salvador for more information.

Cross Country Training on the Galloping Goose Trail

A big shout out to Declan - who ran 8 km in 38 minutes last week!

New logo for Eagle House - after student consultation the Eagle House logo has been refined. Many thanks to Ben and Raymond for their work on this!

Hopefully it inspires the Eagle house to make up some ground on the first place Wolf House!