New Westminster Secondary School

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New Westminster Secondary School
Ad Ductum Et Operam
To general and to lavish care
Address
835 Eighth Street
New Westminster, British Columbia, V3M 3S9, Canada
Information
School number 4040008
School board School District 40 New Westminster
Superintendent Dr. John Woudzia
Principal Joey Sahli
Vice principal Mary Bushman, Chris Evans, Oscar Hanson, Paul McKay
Grades 8 to 12
Language English, French
Mascot Firefighter
Team name New Wesminster Hyacks
Colours Black, Orange, White
Founded 1960
Enrollment 2000+
Homepage http://www.nwss.ca

New Westminster Secondary School is a high school based in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. Students of grade 8 to 12 are accepted, as well as International Students. The school offers enrichment programs such as the International Baccalaureate[1] program, Advanced Placement courses, and facilities such as the Automotive shop. The school mascot is a fireman and the spirit mascot is the Yak.

Contents

[edit] Location

New Westminster Secondary School is part of Greater Vancouver in the lower mainland, and is located close to a Skytrain station.

[edit] History

Started in 1860, the site of the school was a public cemetery where most of the prominent citizens of New Westminster were buried. Then, they were transferred to the Fraser Cemetery in the 1870s. In 1920, the southeast corner was sold to the Loyal Protestant Orphanage.

In 1940, the corner of 10th Avenue and 8th was leased to the Federal Government. It served as soldiers' barracks to train soldiers during World War II. After World War II, the barracks were moved to the UBC and the rest were demolished. Finally, in 1948 The Public Works Yard was moved and the site was transferred to the New Westminster School Board for the construction of offices and high schools. The site was checked for burial remains before construction but many were missed.

In September 1949, the Vincent Massey Junior High was unofficially opened by Premier Bryan I. Johnson. On December 16, 1949, the school was officially opened. The school was named after the Right Honourable Vincent Massey, the eighteenth Governor General of Canada and the first who was born in Canada.

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Sports Teams

NWSS has a large variety of sports teams, including:

[edit] Student life

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Activities and Clubs

The school has the following clubs:

  • Anime Club - Students come together and discuss popular anime. There are many anime DVDs that will be played in the club.
  • Book Club - Students read and discuss about some popular books.
  • Combat Bots - To get students involved in designing, building and competing with battlebots in competitions with each other and other schools. The club is concentrating mostly on new designs for 12-lb radio-controlled bots.
  • Debate - The goal of the debate club is to gain valuable public speaking and debating skills.
  • Environment - To encourage volunteers and awareness of growing ecological concerns and issues facing the world today.
  • Free the Children - To help build a school in developing countries. The club creates awareness to children who lack a voice and opinion by having a 24 hour silence in which students will collect donations for every hour they remain silent and promote a stronger voice for those who are underprivileged.
  • Grad Committee - To create an alcohol and drug-free party that is a great alternative to other grad parties where alcohol may present unsafe situations.
  • GSA - Gay-straight alliance: Raises awareness about issues related to homophobia.
  • Hip hop dance - Students learn hip hop dancing taught by professionals and students.
  • Honour Society - To heighten student involvement in the school and community and to create awareness of global issues through sponsorship of students in the Third World. Students must be on the honour roll to join.
  • Improv Club - To allow students the opportunity to improve their acting and improvisation skills and improve self-expression, bring awareness to theatre program at NWSS.
  • Interact Club - Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Royal City and Rotary Club of New Westminster, Interact creates and partakes in local projects that benefit the school, local community and global causes such as fund raisers for a variety of causes. The current international goal is raising funds for the Kokoyotzin Kindergarten's school supplies. The kindergarten is located in Zihuatanejo, Mexico and is an initiative started by the Rotary Club of Royal City.
  • Knitting Club - To teach the skill of knitting to students, to provide a community service opportunity for students, to knit warm clothing for the homeless.
  • Salsa Caliente - Students learn Salsa taught by professionals and students themselves. Beginner and Advanced classes exist.
  • Service Club - To promote and assist with student activities. Some activities include poster-making, and assisting with fund raising for charities.
  • Ski - For students to have fun in the Canadian culture of skiing in the mountains of British Columbia.
  • Physics Club - Students come together and have fun doing physics and entering competitions and Olympiads.
  • Voices of India - To raise awareness of the Indian culture and to fund raise to support a child in India and to support Indo-Canadian Youth Against Violence in Canada.
  • Student Council - The student council organizes and monitors events, dances, and other administrative work.

[edit] Music

NWSS has a large music department with many bands. Some of the bands include the grade 8 concert band, grade 9 jazz and concert band, grade 10 jazz and concert band, grade 10 jazz choir, grade 10 girls choir, senior 2 (grade 11) jazz and concert band, senior 1 (grade 12) jazz and concert band, and the Viola/violin orchestra. The school has 2 concerts each year in its own theatre, a winter concert in December and a concert in May/June. The students go on various trips and competitions. For example, the senior bands are going to New York in April 2007. Others include competitions in Capilano College and performances in malls and schools.

Every year there will be 1 or 2 winners for the N-Dub idol event, an imitation of American Idol and Canadian Idol where a student will have a chance to win a prize and gain recognition for their singing skills.

[edit] School maps

These are the school maps. The school is composed of two wings, Massey and Pearson. The school is two stories high. The new school is currently being constructed, and is planned to be built three stories high on a smaller area, freeing room for a Middle School on the same campus.

Massey Wing 1st Floor.

Massey Wing 2nd Floor.

Pearson Wing 1st Floor.

Pearson Wing 2nd Floor.

[edit] Academics

[edit] Programs

NWSS has many programs for students who want to study specific categories or aiming for a specific area of study. These include:

  • NWSS Fine Arts Mini School - The NWSS Fine Arts Mini School is for people who are interested in studying areas involving fine arts, such as design, and movie authoring.
  • NWSS School of Tourism - The tourism program allows students to study tourism promotion and related topics. Tourism students can attain certification at various levels of achievement that supports them in entry-level positions and provides transferable skills for use in Tourism Training Programs. This program is approved by the Canadian Academy of Travel and Tourism (CATT)[2]
  • Pre-Apprenticeship Automotive Program - As part of a joint initiative between BCIT and NWSS, this program is for students who meet BCIT’s entrance requirements and wants to become an Automotive Mechanic, to take the first year of BCIT’s Entry Level Trades Training Certificate Program at the same time as completing graduation requirements. This program is offered to grade 10, 11 and 12 students.
  • Plumbing Apprenticeship Course - This program is a new program starting from Sept. 2007 and is offered between NWSS and a post-secondary partner. Details of course include: plan design, install, and sevice of various types of piping systems; work with water heating systems, water supply & drainage; blueprint reading, drafting & sketching. Students will receive credit for Level 1 Technical training from the Industry Training Authority.
  • Secondary School Apprenticeship (SSA) - This course is offered to students who are willing to dedicate time to work as an apprentice with an employer on a part-time basis, while attending regular school classes. Students will complete 480 hours of apprenticeship while in secondary school.
  • Advanced Placement Programs - This program offers students an opportunity to study university level courses in Grade 12 or Grade 11 in some circumstances (with permission from instructor). These courses are offered out of class time, usually after school. The school offers the following courses:
    • Literature and Composition
    • Art History
    • European History
    • Human Geography
  • International Baccalaureate Programme - The NWSS International Baccalaureate program is a rigorous pre-university course of studies, offered at NWSS since the year of 2000. The school offers the Diploma Program (DP) and an unofficial Pre-IB Programme. The Pre-IB Programme contains a unique course by the name of RIM, or Research in Motion. This course is meant to give students a basis in discussion of ethics, and technology useful to the DP programme, and also a practice "Long Term Project" which would be an imitation of the Extended Essay. The student will need to take a test to enter the Pre-IB program, and may be requested for teacher recommendations for the DP programme. Currently the highest diploma mark received by diploma candidates in NWSS is 45 (out of 45). The school offers the following IB subjects (as of 2007):
    • Group 1: English A1 HL, English A1 SL
    • Group 2: French B SL, French B HL
    • Group 3: History HL, ITGS SL, ITGS HL, Economics SL (course pending), History SL (course pending)
    • Group 4: Chemistry HL, Chemistry SL, Biology SL, Biology HL, Physics SL, Physics HL
    • Group 5: Mathematics SL, Math Studies SL
    • Group 6: Music SL, Theatre Arts SL
  • ESL Program - The ESL Program at NWSS is for students who's second language is English. This program is offered to many International Students.
  • French Immersion Program - The French Immersion program at NWSS is designed to let students enhance their French skills by attending classes purely taught in French. This is the continuation of the Glenbrook Middle School late French immersion program. In this program, students are expected to speak French in most classes and upon finishing it, have almost native fluency. Students frequently go on exchange trips, such as France exchange 2007.

As well as these programs, NWSS offers other unique courses, such as Social Justice, Law, Ceramics and Sculpture, Comparative Civilizations, as well as hundreds of other electives and exploratory programs. These accompany the regular academic programs that the school offers.

[edit] School Facilities and Resources

[edit] Athletic Facilities

New Westminster Secondary school currently has the following athletic facilities:

  • 3 Indoor Gyms - A gym located in the Pearson Wing, and 2 gyms in the Massey Wing.
  • 1 Outdoor Football Field - A football field with artificial grass, a track and field course, 4 natural lighting systems, an electronic scoreboard and a stand for audience.
  • 2 Soccer/Multipurpose fields - 2 fields with goal posts and grass and baseball corner.
  • 1 Skating Rink - Moody Park Arena is located on campus near Massey Theatre.
  • Weight lifting room - Room with many workout facilities.

[edit] Technology and Exploratory Facilities

New Westminster Secondary School currently has the following technology facilities:

  • 7 Computer rooms - 1 IB computer lab, 1 design technology labs, 2 information technology labs, 1 graphics and design lab, 1 library internet lab, 1 business education lab.
  • 1 Industrial Education shop
  • 1 Woodworking shop
  • 1 Metal working shop
  • 2 Home economics rooms
  • 1 Automotive shop
  • 1 Media Center

[edit] Academic Resources

New Westminster secondary school currently provides the following academic resources:

  • 1 Tablet PC and LCD Projector for each math classroom
  • 8 Science laboratories
  • 1 overhead projector per classroom
  • Internet connection (wired) per classroom (on request of teachers).

[edit] Fine arts facilities

New Westminster Secondary School currently has the following fine arts facilities

  • 1 Auditorium theatre
  • 2 Band rooms
  • 4 Fine arts classrooms (Fine arts section of school)
  • 1 Dance studio

[edit] Other facilities

  • 2 Cafeterias - A cafeteria in the Pearson Wing (vends food) and a cafeteria in the Massey Wing (does not vend food).
  • 1 Massey Theatre concession area - Closeable area; vends food during performances

[edit] Controversies and Issues

[edit] Postponed Future development

The current high school is structurally unstable and also prone to frequent breakdowns. Because of this, the Ministry of Education has allowed the construction of a new high school and middle school that will replace the old building. The high school will no longer accept grade eight students after the new construction of the Middle School. Work on the new building will begin in summer of 2005 and was expected to be completed in 2007.

In order to sustain enough funds, there has been a proposal to sell parts of the NWSS land to commercial development.

Recently, the school board of NWSS has requested for an additional $20 million dollar increase in spending money (in addition to the original $52 million dollars that was approved)[3] for the new school, due to rising construction costs. However, the ministry has rejected the request. As a result, the construction of the new school is now uncertain.

[edit] Asbestos Incident

In April 2005, part of the school was demolished in the anticipation of building a new school. However, due to the age of the school, asbestos was found to be in the floor of the room demolished.[4] The reason that this incident happened is debatable and unclear. The school district was fined $75,000 by WorkSafe BC supposedly due to the lack of information that was provided to the workers, and that they were not told that they were dealing with asbestos. Within a month, the part with asbestos was blocked off in an attempt to prevent it from spreading. While the area was closed, there was a potential of students who were exposed to asbestos, having studied in that area. Drama students and teachers were potentially affected due to the location of the asbestos directly in the Fine Arts section of the school.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ibo.org/school/001188/
  2. ^ http://www.cthrc.ca/eng/catt/pdf/2006_CATT_Scholarship_Criteria.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2004_2005/educ/Report_on_Resources.htm
  4. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QLRWlBhSKA
  5. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player.jsp?player_id=408047
  6. ^ http://www.hockeygoalies.org/bio/ranford.html

[edit] External links

school image

Schools in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

Secondary schools New Westminster Secondary
Middle or junior high schools Glenbrook Middle School · Queensbrough Middle School
Primary or elementary schools Richard Mcbride Elementary School · Herbert Spencer Elementary School · John Robson Elementary School · Lord Kelvin Elementary School · Lord Tweedsmur Elementary School · Queen Elizabeth Elementary School · F.W. Howay Elementary School


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