Education

Graham Cannon is the first winner of the Barb de Groot grant, which has been presented for the first time this year. (Submitted)

First winner of de Groot grant in Cowichan is former student

Cannon is the lead instructor for a class of four boys

  • Jul 30, 2021

 

A classroom is shown at Hunter’s Glen Junior Public School in Scarborough, Ont., on Monday, September 14, 2020. An advocacy group is calling for Canada to fully integrate child-care and early childhood education into its school systems THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Group calls for integration of early childhood education and school systems

People for Education says there are clear benefits to early childhood education

 

Duncan Christian School students build friendship benches during a two-day event sponsored by the Industry Training Authority. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

Duncan Christian students get a taste of the trades

Two-day workshop sees students build benches for Cowichan community

 

The Cowichan School District is offering a new program in the fall for students needing full-time mental health and emotional support. (File photo)

New program for Cowichan students needing mental health, emotional support

The district is partnering with the Take a Hike Foundation

  • Jul 20, 2021
The Cowichan School District is offering a new program in the fall for students needing full-time mental health and emotional support. (File photo)
Duncan Christian School’s athlete of the year award winners for 2020-21. Back row from left: senior boys winners Nate Powell and Andrew Young, senior girls award winners Jaymie Brandsma and Grace George. Front row from left: junior boys winners Mothias Henry and Cohen Floucault, junior girls winners Michaela Wall and Addy Klassen. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

Duncan Christian award winners reflect on challenges of 2020-21

This year was ‘a different ball game’ for school athletes

Duncan Christian School’s athlete of the year award winners for 2020-21. Back row from left: senior boys winners Nate Powell and Andrew Young, senior girls award winners Jaymie Brandsma and Grace George. Front row from left: junior boys winners Mothias Henry and Cohen Floucault, junior girls winners Michaela Wall and Addy Klassen. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)
Children walk with their parents to Sherwood Park Elementary in North Vancouver for the first day back to school on Sept. 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Study reassures parents, teachers that COVID-19 infrequently shared at school

Federally funded study in Vancouver finds risk in the classroom and in the community identical

Children walk with their parents to Sherwood Park Elementary in North Vancouver for the first day back to school on Sept. 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
The Kamloops Residential School is photographed using a drone in Kamloops, B.C., Monday, June, 14, 2021. Responding to complaints from an Indigenous girl and her mother, the Nova Scotia government has deleted a section from a high school correspondence course that asks students to list the positive attributes of the residential school system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Nova Scotia drops course that asked pupils to list benefits of residential schools

Education Minister calls family Thursday to apologize for the hurtful content

The Kamloops Residential School is photographed using a drone in Kamloops, B.C., Monday, June, 14, 2021. Responding to complaints from an Indigenous girl and her mother, the Nova Scotia government has deleted a section from a high school correspondence course that asks students to list the positive attributes of the residential school system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
FILE – A science class at L.A. Matheson Secondary in Surrey, B.C. on March 12, 2021. (Lauren Collins/Surrey Now Leader)

Teachers’ union wants more COVID transmission data as B.C. prepares for back-to-school

BCTF says that details will be important as province works on plan for September

FILE – A science class at L.A. Matheson Secondary in Surrey, B.C. on March 12, 2021. (Lauren Collins/Surrey Now Leader)
FILE – Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry listens as B.C. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside describes new mask wearing policy for public schools, Feb. 4, 2021. (B.C. government)

COVID-19: No cohorts as B.C. schools expected to return to ‘near normal’ this fall

Guidance on masking to come at a later date

FILE – Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry listens as B.C. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside describes new mask wearing policy for public schools, Feb. 4, 2021. (B.C. government)
Eleonore Alamillo-Laberge, 6, reads a book in Ottawa on Monday, June 12, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Parents will need to fight ‘COVID learning slump’ over summer: B.C. literacy experts

Parents who play an active role in educating their children this summer can reverse the slump by nearly 80%, says Janet Mort

Eleonore Alamillo-Laberge, 6, reads a book in Ottawa on Monday, June 12, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre has embarked on a fundraising campaign, seeking to raise $1 million for establishment of an independent urban Indigenous school. Pictured here, Tsawalk Learning Centre students at an Orange Shirt Day event in September. (Submitted photo)

Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre looks to raise $1 million for urban Indigenous school

Centre says independent school would be first of its kind in B.C.

Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre has embarked on a fundraising campaign, seeking to raise $1 million for establishment of an independent urban Indigenous school. Pictured here, Tsawalk Learning Centre students at an Orange Shirt Day event in September. (Submitted photo)
Grade 12 students Sophia Kazakoff and Catherine Yuan accept QMS’s Stigma Free Designation award from Stigma-Free Society president, Andrea Paquette. (Submitted)

Duncan’s QMS earns ‘Stigma-Free’ designation

“No school in the province has accomplished what QMS did in such a short period of time”

  • Jun 13, 2021
Grade 12 students Sophia Kazakoff and Catherine Yuan accept QMS’s Stigma Free Designation award from Stigma-Free Society president, Andrea Paquette. (Submitted)
A protester swings a hammer in an attempt to remove the head of the Egerton Ryerson statue in Toronto on Sunday June 6, 2021. A much-maligned statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled in Toronto on Sunday. The statue, prominently displayed on the campus of Ryerson University, has come under renewed scrutiny after the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Beheaded statue of Egerton Ryerson, toppled Sunday in Toronto, won’t be replaced

Ryerson is credited as one of the architects of Canada’s residential school system

A protester swings a hammer in an attempt to remove the head of the Egerton Ryerson statue in Toronto on Sunday June 6, 2021. A much-maligned statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled in Toronto on Sunday. The statue, prominently displayed on the campus of Ryerson University, has come under renewed scrutiny after the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Sweatin’ for Science participants have collectively clocked 90,000+ kilometres during the fundraiser – the equivalent of more than one lap around the perimeter of BC and Yukon.

Sweatin’ for Science group collectively travels the distance of one lap around the perimeter of BC and Yukon

Funds will make science fairs more accessible for those who might not otherwise be able to take part

  • May 31, 2021
Sweatin’ for Science participants have collectively clocked 90,000+ kilometres during the fundraiser – the equivalent of more than one lap around the perimeter of BC and Yukon.
FILE – The fence of Erickson Elementary School was lined with 22 orange shirts on Sept. 30 in honour of Orange Shirt Day. (Aaron Hemens - Creston Valley Advance)

B.C. teachers to wear orange shirts to honour children found dead at residential school

Discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children was confirmed by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation

FILE – The fence of Erickson Elementary School was lined with 22 orange shirts on Sept. 30 in honour of Orange Shirt Day. (Aaron Hemens - Creston Valley Advance)
The AcousChicks from Brentwood College School had a winning season in 2021. (Submitted)

Brentwood picks up national music honours in spite of pandemic

“It’s not easy running choirs and bands in the middle of a pandemic”

The AcousChicks from Brentwood College School had a winning season in 2021. (Submitted)
Erik Christian Oun, who worked for the Coquitlam school district, has had his teaching licence suspended for half a year. (Pixabay)

B.C. teacher suspended after calling students ‘cutie’ and ‘sweetheart’ in online messages

Erik Oun’s licence has been suspended for half a year, a decision made by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation

Erik Christian Oun, who worked for the Coquitlam school district, has had his teaching licence suspended for half a year. (Pixabay)
Children walk back to their classroom while wearing masks and physical distancing at St. Barnabas Catholic School in Scarborough, Ont., in October, 2020. A group of B.C. teachers has issued an open letter calling for the relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions for children in B.C. schools. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Group of B.C. teachers calls for easing of pandemic measures for students

Teacher group says ‘response to COVID is out of balance to the cost our youth are paying’

Children walk back to their classroom while wearing masks and physical distancing at St. Barnabas Catholic School in Scarborough, Ont., in October, 2020. A group of B.C. teachers has issued an open letter calling for the relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions for children in B.C. schools. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Barb de Groot. (Citizen file)

New Barb de Groot grant to forward the cause of literacy in Cowichan

De Groot a founding member of Literacy Now Cowichan

  • May 3, 2021
Barb de Groot. (Citizen file)
QMS Head of School, David Robertson, addresses students and staff during the school’s Centennial Founders’ Day event in 2021, a special day to honour the school’s 100th birthday. (Light Work Photography photo)

Queen Margaret’s School celebrates 100th birthday

On April 4, 1921 Queen Margaret’s School opened its doors in Duncan

  • Apr 28, 2021
QMS Head of School, David Robertson, addresses students and staff during the school’s Centennial Founders’ Day event in 2021, a special day to honour the school’s 100th birthday. (Light Work Photography photo)