Westmount Charter School

Westmount Charter School
Address
728 - 32 Street N.W. (Elementary), 2215 Uxbridge Drive N.W. (Mid-High/Highschool)
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
Coordinates 51°04′17″N 114°07′59″W / 51.071268°N 114.133165°W / 51.071268; -114.133165Coordinates: 51°04′17″N 114°07′59″W / 51.071268°N 114.133165°W / 51.071268; -114.133165
Information
School type Publicly funded Charter
Founded 1996
School board Westmount Charter Board
Superintendent Joe Frank
Principal Hal Curties (Elementary)
Dr. Janneke Frank (Mid/Highschool)
Grades K-12
Language English
Colour(s) Purple, Gold
Team name Wild
Website www.westmountcharter.com

Westmount Charter School is a charter school based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which educates gifted students from kindergarten to grade 12. It was founded in 1996 as ABC (Action for Bright Children) Charter Public School, a school for gifted children. The school started with 116 students, from grades one to three, and is now hosting a gifted student body of over 1,000 in grades Kindergarten through 12.[1] The name was officially changed from ABC Charter Public School to Westmount Charter School in 2002, though the school remains publicly funded. Westmount's first grade 12 graduation occurred in June 2006.

Teams and Clubs

Debate

Westmount has a history in debate medaling in the many tournaments, including regionals, and provincials. Westmount also has very successful senior and junior debate teams, currently reigning champions of the North American Qualifiers, the Ellen Webber trophy, the Micheal Dorvis cup, the Billington Cup, the Western Redman debate Open, and the Henry Wise Wood annual Worlds Style Tournament all at the regional level, and the University of British Columbia Open, and the North American Debate Championships at the National and International level.

Facilities

Westmount Charter School's old location at the Viscount Bennett Centre

Westmount Charter School started out in 1996 with a small building in Bridgeland as their home. They have since progressed through a building in the old CFB Currie, and for ten years shared the Viscount Bennett Centre with Chinook Learning Services. In September 2011, Westmount moved to two buildings: Parkdale Elementary, which houses Kindergarten to grade 4, and Sir William Van Horne High School in University Heights, which houses grades 5 to 12.[2] These buildings are leased from the Calgary Board of Education, the public school board in the area.

In July 2013, during summer holidays the retractable roof located over the school's atrium was partially dislodged during a thunderstorm. After months of renovation, it has been transformed into the new Learning Commons, which is now open.

Band Program

Westmount's band program encompasses many styles and levels. Within concert band there are Beginner or Grade 5 level. The Junior, Intermediate and Senior levels all vary in grade level. It also offers numerous other music programs, those being String Orchestra, Choir, and three levels of Jazz Band. Unlike most other schools in the province, Westmount starts its Beginner band in Grade 5.[3]

Giftedness

The mandate of Westmount Charter School is to provide educational programming for gifted students, and it defines giftedness thus: "Students are gifted when they perform, or show potential for performing, remarkably high levels of accomplishment in learning rate, depth of knowledge, and reasoning and problem-solving abilities when compared to others of their age, experience, and environment."[4] The school is a member of the Action for Bright Children (Calgary) Society.[5]

2008 Indecent Exposure and Sexual Assault Incidents

On October 29, 2008 at the Viscount Bennett Centre, an unknown adult male entered the mid-high area of the school and exposed himself to 2 students at roughly 3:30 PM, after classes had ended. No physical contact was made, and the two students immediately went to the school office. The school immediately went into lockdown, and the police were contacted. The police searched the school, and at around 5:20 PM the lockdown was slowly lifted.[6]

On October 30, just a day after the first act of indecent exposure, a man entered the school who has been described as Middle Eastern with spiky black hair and approximately 6 feet tall (185 CM). At around 10:15 AM he reportedly inappropriately touched an eighth-grade male student in the school cafeteria. The school was again put into lockdown, and the police were contacted. Over a dozen police vehicles and one of Calgary Police Service's HAWC helicopters arrived at the scene, but the suspect was nowhere to be found. The lockdown was lifted at 2:00 PM.[7]

Principals

Superintendent

Previous Superintendents include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Welcome page information - http://www.westmountcharter.com
  2. ↑ http://www.westmountcharter.com/program/locations.html
  3. ↑ "Westmount Music Association". Westmount Charter School Society. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "About Westmount". Westmount Charter School. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "Schools in Calgary". Action for Bright Children (Calgary) Society. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. ↑ http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081029/CGY_Expose_Wesmount_081029/20081029/?hub=CalgaryHome
  7. ↑ "Report of stranger touching student prompts Calgary school lockdown". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
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