West Vancouver is a thriving community where families have many options when it comes to education. There are both faith-based and public schools that offer a variety of learning programs to help children grow academically.
Some of these schools focus on French Immersion, Montessori learning, International Baccalaureate and other educational programs. They cultivate strong literacy, numeracy, social emotional and cognitive skills to help kids tap their unique potential.
Dr. Annie B Jamieson Elementary
When young families look for a home to buy in Vancouver, local school rankings and catchment areas tend to be high on their list of priorities. This is a result of the many advantages that different neighbourhoods in the city offer such as convenient facilities, green space and nearby public transportation options.
Located near Oak Street and West 49th Avenue, Dr. Annie B Jamieson Elementary is a public elementary school that serves the west side of Vancouver. Known for its respect for others and the environment, this school is an ideal place for your child to receive a solid education.
This West Vancouver school has a well-developed curriculum and a strong focus on the arts, athletics, technology, and healthy lifestyles. A wide range of extra-curricular activities, including choir and solo instrument instruction are available to students, as are sports such as volleyball, cross country, and basketball.
The school also has a unique Mandarin Bilingual Program, which is the only one of its kind in the district. This is a great opportunity to learn a new language while having fun.
A large number of parents in the Jamieson community speak a variety of languages outside of English, and the school has a significant ELL population. This means that students can be grouped together according to their level of fluency, and therefore, they have the potential to make friends quickly.
The school has a Parent Advisory Council (PAC), which is responsible for fund-raising initiatives that help support all of the school’s diverse programs and enrich learning experiences for its students. Voluntarism is also abundant, and parents understand that being involved in their children’s educational process will lead to positive outcomes.
Caulfeild Community School
If you’re looking for a tight-knit community with a small town feel, Caufeild may be the place for you. With a range of housing styles, numerous parks and a large high school, this West Vancouver neighbourhood is perfect for families.
The area is also home to one of the city’s largest elementary schools, Caulfeild Community School, which serves students from years 7-12. This coeducational, non-uniform secondary school aims to support its students and their families to build self-confidence, independence and commitment.
Located in West Vancouver, Caulfeild is bordered by Cypress Creek to the east, Lighthouse Park and the Upper Levels Highway to the south, Eagle Harbour northwest and Marine Drive to the west. The neighbourhood has a unique mix of property lots that are estate-sized and surrounded by trees and green space.
Residents are a close-knit group that enjoys their many parks and the local community hall, which hosts various events throughout the year including classical, jazz, blues, folk and pub nights, as well as wine pairings and craft fairs. The community hall is a beautiful location for weddings and family gatherings.
Some homes in Caulfeild remain very close to their original design, but homeowners can’t make major changes to their properties without going through the Lower Caulfeild Advisory Committee, which acts as an extra layer of review process before the district issues permits for any work in this designated Heritage Conservation Area.
This makes a lot of sense for the community, as it preserves its heritage and allows homeowners to make the renovations they want while keeping the neighbourhood’s character intact.
The neighbourhood is also home to a number of family-oriented businesses, including a local shopping centre, a medical centre and artisan shops, all within walking distance of the school. This is why many homeowners choose to live in Caulfeild.
Gleneagles Secondary School
Gleneagles Secondary School is a public coeducational high school located in Coquitlam, BC. It serves students in grades 9-12 and is run by the School District 43 Coquitlam. It has an enrolment of about 1500 students and serves the Endeavour Hills community.
The school is a great place for students who are interested in performing arts, particularly theatre. The school has a reputation for producing a wide variety of musicals, including some of the most well-known titles in the world. In recent years, it has produced musicals such as Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, West Side Story and Sister Act.
In addition to regular acting classes, the school also features a number of extracurricular plays in the fall and spring, which offer students in-depth training in their respective roles. These plays are often practiced in a style known as Black Box Theatre, with minimal sets and basic lighting so that maximum resources can be focused on actor training rather than on the technical niceties of more lavish productions.
As a result, Broken Wing Theatre has produced more than 200 scripted plays and musicals since it was founded by Richard Dixon in 1997. The productions usually feature student-written and director-written plays or adaptations of classics.
For many students, the theatre program at Gleneagle is a major highlight of their time at the school. They have the opportunity to perform in a variety of musicals and come out of it with strong performance skills.
It’s also a great place for students who are interested learning about music. The school has a large music program and the faculty members are very dedicated to ensuring that students are exposed to music in many ways.
Mulgrave Secondary School
Located on the side of Cypress Mountain off Exit 8 of Highway 1, Mulgrave School is tied for first place with Collingwood School. With a score of 9.2 and rank of 10/252, it is one of the top secondary schools in West Vancouver.
A co-educational, independent, IB World School, it follows the IB curriculum from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. Its goal is to inspire excellence – the pursuit of personal best – in education and life, through the values of respect, responsibility, compassion, empathy, courage and leadership.
Students come from a variety of countries, including China and South America. The international focus of the IB programme is evident in all the activities at Mulgrave.
The school has a strong emphasis on academics with the aim of graduating students prepared to excel at university. It offers a large selection of Advanced Placement courses and has a French immersion program.
Also one of the three principal public high schools in West Vancouver, it is authorised to teach the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. It is known for its sporting prowess and sends graduates to major Canadian universities and US Ivies.
An older state secondary school in Vancouver, it is a member of the prestigious Round Square network, committed to academic excellence and personal development through service challenge, adventure and international understanding. It has a successful sports programme and is home to up to 42 different teams.
Founded in 1962 and offering a range of Advanced Placement courses, it is also the only West Vancouver school that has an IBO Diploma programme. It also has a large number of international students from Asia and South America, many of whom travel to Vancouver for the school exchange programme.
Sentinel Secondary School
Sentinel Secondary School is a public secondary school in West Vancouver, Canada. It is one of the three high schools in the district and has approximately 1,200 students from grades 8 through 12.
The school offers a number of prestigious programs for its students to choose from. These programs include the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme and AP courses.
Moreover, Sentinel also has a French immersion program that allows its students to learn the language in a more native way. In addition to the regular academic curriculum, the school also provides a range of extracurricular activities.
For example, the school’s athletic program features up to 42 different sports, based on how many students are on each team. The school also has a renowned theatre program, Sentinel Stage.
Another popular sport at the school is volleyball, with up to ten teams playing it. The school also has an acclaimed band and choir program, as well as a thriving visual arts department.
Additionally, Sentinel has a Pursuit Programme, which is similar to Super Achievers, which enables students to take regular classes in the morning and focus on their chosen sport or activity during the afternoon. This is a great choice for athletes, as it combines the benefits of the Premier Academies with the flexibility and freedom of extracurricular activities.
The school also has a unique program called VocabularySpellingCity that helps students develop their vocabulary and spelling skills. This program is especially effective for ESL students and those who are struggling with English language learning.
Among many other things, David A. Grantham is a contributing author to UmassExtension West Vancouver Blo. He is a renowned expert on real estate in BC.
Born in North Vancouver, Louisiana, Dr. Grantham grew up in Lower Lonsdale. He then went on to complete his business degree at the University British Columbia. As of this writing, Grantham has completed over 100 projects, including the development of a high rise building in Vancouver.
He is a husband, father, son, brother, and friend. He was a dedicated outdoorsman and enjoyed sports such as hunting, fishing, scuba diving, and snow skiing. His wife, Alison Grantham, and their two daughters survived him. He is survived by his wife Alison Martin Grantham and two daughters.