Port Moody Secondary School

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Port Moody Secondary School
Address
300 Albert Street Port Moody, British Columbia, V3H 2M5, Canada
Information
School number	4343088
School board	School District 43 Coquitlam
Religious affiliation	Secular
Staff	100
School type	Coeducational Public Secondary
Grades	9 to 12
Language	English
Campus	Suburban
Motto	A tradition of excellence
Mascot	Phoenix
Team name	Blues
Colours	Blue and White
Enrollment	1600
Newspaper	The Phoenix
Homepage	http://www.pmssblues.net

Port Moody Secondary School, is a public coeducational high school located in Port Moody, British Columbia. The school serves grades nine through twelve and currently has an enrolment of about 1,600 students. Enrollment at the school has dropped in recent years, due in part to the changing demographics of the neighbourhood it is located in. The school population is very diverse (over half the students are of Asian descent). The school is notable for offering the International Baccalaureate Program to its students, which many students travel from other neighbourhoods and school districts to participate in, as well as the Advanced Placement Program and Career Preparation Program. Moody also used to offer the Cambridge Latin Course. Port Moody also boasts an excellent arts program. Port Moody Secondary is also the only school in the district that offers a string orchestra class. They are also the school that runs the community jazz and concert bands. They are also the only school that offers advanced art programs.

[edit] History

Moody Secondary was built originally to replace the previous Moody High School on the site of the current Moody Middle School, which due to an accident in a chemistry lab, burned to the ground in 1969. The new school took the phoenix as its mascot to symbolize its rising from the ashes and served an initial population of about 900 students in grades 11 and 12. In 1998 School District 43 changed to a middle school system, forcing Moody Secondary to admit students from grades 9 and 10. The result was a vastly overpopulated school where students were expected to share lockers and overcrowding was addressed through the use of 36 portable classrooms. These growing pains were only partially addressed by renovations to the school, which were completed in 2002. Use of the remaining outside portable classrooms is common, especially for elective courses and lower grade-level courses.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

Moody has a cheerleading team that has achieved a high standard of excellence in competition in both Canada and the United States. It has well established teams for badminton, rugby, rowing, soccer, cross-country, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, swimming, water polo and track and field.

Well known for the diverse student-driven initiatives, the school is home to around 30 extracurricular clubs that are registered with the Student Council, itself boasting over 120 members. The Student Council is led by a student executive with an advisor, hosting events to benefit the school in many ways. The Student Council is also represented at the district-level through the Student Leadership Council (SD43), historically influential through overwhelming participation in the executive. Other large extracurricular groups include The 3rd World Awareness Group and The Phoenix Newspaper. The school also has clubs such as Marketing One, which supported public relations and advertisement of the school musical, Leader of the Pack, in 2006.