Aspengrove’s strings septet is made up of students from Grades 4 through 8 who play the violin or cello. Under the direction of music teacher, Mrs. McElwain, they have been preparing to accompany the Grade 4 class in performing a song for the upcoming Christmas concert at Vancouver Island University Theatre on Tuesday, December 15th at 6:30 pm. Admission is by donation of a non-perishable item to Loaves & Fishes
Primary and Senior Choir members entertained shoppers at Woodgrove Centre with Christmas and seasonal songs in Woodgrove Centre’s Singing Christmas Tree. The Choirs were led by music teacher, Jill McElwain and accompanied on piano by Grade 4 teacher, Mr. La Bounty.
Student Council members Rachel Goldminc, Gr. 11 and Darcy Good, Gr. 12 have planned an activity for the White Ribbon Campaign (Violence against women/Dec 6th).
For the first hour students in Grades 10, 11 & 12 will be working with their peers in gender stereotype and healthy relationship workshops. Following these working groups, we have arranged for a guest speaker from Haven House to come and speak about violence against women in our own community.
We are ecstatic to announce that two of our Grade 9 MYP students, Sarah Kalweit and Victoria Reynolds, are in the process of competing at the Nanaimo Volleyball Club tryout camps! Great job ladies and we wish you all the best!!
We are pleased to announce our annual Scholastic Christmas Book Fair. Seize this great opportunity to choose a good read for your Winter Break enjoyment or for a gift. Dates and times of the fair are:
Monday, December 7th – 12:30-1:00 and 3:15-4:30
Tuesday, December 8th – 12:30-1:00 and 2:15-5:00
Wednesday, December 9th – 12:15-4:30
Thursday, December 10th – 12:30-1:00 and 3:15-4:30
Students from Grade 11 & 12 Make A Difference to the Pediatric Ward at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital by decorating the halls and waiting areas for Christmas to bring some happiness to the children, families and hospital staff who will spend their holiday in hospital this year.
Mr. Shuley’s Grade 5 class completed their D.A.R.E. training with Cst. Vaughan of the Nanaimo RCMP detachment and performed their skits for an audience to share their knowledge regarding violence and drug and alcohol use as well as making their personal pledges to avoid violence, drugs and alcohol in their lives.
Each student received a D.A.R.E. certificate and t-shirt to commemorate the occasion and thanked Cst. Vaughan for making the training enjoyable and engaging.
Students arrived, ready for another school year on our Opening Day from 8:15 am to 3:15 pm.
Our Primary Years Programme students (Kindergarten to Grade 5) enjoyed settling in to their Homerooms to get reaquainted and newly acquainted with each other.
Our Middle Years Programme and High School students (Grades 6 to 12) participated in workshops on topics such as Learning Styles, Communication, Human Ingenuity, Digital Literacy and Middle Years Programme Orientation and were involved in group team building activities in the afternoon (see photos).
We welcome interested families to visit and observe in a classroom(s) of their choice from Kindergarten to Grade 12 during our Fall Open House.
Should you have any questions or wish to schedule an alternate date to tour the school, please contact the Admissions Director, Elisabeth Reay at ereay@aspengroveschool.ca or 250-390-2201 to make arrangements to do so.
Students from Kindergarten to Grade 5 have their school supplies included in their school fees and provided to them for the full school year.
Students from Grades 6 to 12 purchase their own school supplies and the 2010-2011 lists are as follows:
On Friday, June 25th, Aspengrove held our High School Closing Exercises, Awards and Graduation Ceremony at 2:00 pm in the school gymnasium, followed by a reception and student art show in the main school.
Top Academic Trophies were awarded to: Darcy Good, Grade 12; Iman Sheriff and Jin Gyu Lim, Grade 11; Amy Swanton and Lexie O’Keeffe, Grade 10; Madeline Torrie, Grade 9; Laura O’Keeffe, Grade 8.
The Valedictorian address was given by Darcy Good who also received the Anthony Ciammaichella Leadership Award, the John Pappel Scholar/Athlete award for Grade 12, tied with Andrea Bata for the R. Mace Math Award as the top graduating Math student, Chemistry 12 subject award, B.C. Innovation Council Science Award and a $25,000 Chancellor’s Entrance Scholarship for Aboriginal students to Vancouver Island University.
The Murdoch Science Scholarship ($1,000) was awarded to Andrea Bata.
The Cathy Grunlund Award was given to Camilla Arnold. This award is given to the student who has shown the greatest amount of growth during their time at Aspengrove.
The inspirational key note address to graduates was given by Chief Doug White III, Chief of the Snuneymuxw First Nation, practicing lawyer and graduate of Vancouver Island University in First Nations Studies (with honours) and the University of Victoria (law school).
Our graduates have been accepted and will start their fall studies at the following institutions:
Camilla Arnold - University of Alberta, Science Department
Andrea Bata - University of Victoria, Science Department
Darcy Good - Vancouver Island University, Science Department
Matthew Marwood - Vancouver Island University, Science Department (Engineering)
Jason Miller - Emily Carr School of Art and Design (Industrial Design)
Elijah Silva - Academy of Art University, San Francisco (Film School)
Aspengrove students from Grades 7 to 11 wrote the University of Waterloo’s national math contest exams for their respective grades. These contests were written by a total of over 60,000 students from over 1,200 schools across Canada. Medals are awarded to the top scoring student in each grade and if students score in the top 25% of all students writing in the country they received a Certificate of Distinction from the University of Waterloo. Aspengrove student results include:
Top Grade 7 student - Walker Bell. Grade 7 Certificates of Distinction awarded to Walker Bell and Jason O’Keeffe.
Top Grade 8 student - HongBo Sim. Grade 8 Certificates of Distinction awarded to HongBo Sim, Nicole Biro, Natalie Hussmann, Laura O’Keeffe and Erin Murdoch.
Top Grade 9 student - Daniel Truong
Top Grade 10 student - Elliott deLure. Grade 10 Certificate of Distinction awarded to Elliott deLure.
Top Grade 11 student - Jin Gyu Lim. Grade 11 Certificate of Distinction awarded to Jin Gyu Lim who subsequently achieved the Bronze standard Certificate of Distinction in the Hypatia Math Contest which places him in the top 20% of Canadian Mathematics students.
In addition, two of our Grade 10 students were recognized for their academic achievements in Science. Max Meyer scored in the top 10% of writers of the Michael Smith Science Challenge The national competition emphasizes logical thinking and covers material in the science curriculum common to all provinces across Canada. Amy Swanton was chosen from hundreds of applicants across the country to attend the University of Waterloo conference sponsored by the Centre for Education in Math and Computing for Women in Computer Science.
Students, parents and teachers turned out on Saturday, June 5th to the Spring Broom Bash to continue working toward the eradication of Scotch Broom from the school site.
Direct from our Teacher/Librarian, Mrs. Robertson, here are this year’s Summer Reading Lists! We hope for sunny, warm days where you can relax in the cool grass under the shade of a leafy tree, to escape into the world(s) of these fantastic books. Happy Reading!…………drum roll please…………
pre-kindy-kindergarten-summer-reading-list
Preparation for Aspengrove’s final exam weeks and Provincial exams have begun for students from Grades 8 to 12 which involve the preparation and review of study guides by students. Science 8 students’ study guides are attached here…….
Aspengrove was honoured to be visited by Evgeny Starodubtsev and his 7 year old daughter, Olga, during Evgeny’s visit to Nanaimo where he performed in the Vancouver Island Symphony’s Nanaimo Piano Festival. Mr. Starodubtsev studied piano and composition at the Moscow State Conservatory’s Central Music School. He is a soloist, recitalist and composer whose works include chamber works for various instruments including woodwinds, strings and harp. This fall he records his debut CD on the Honens label.
Students from Aspengrove’s Grade 3 and 4 classes were thoroughly entertained by Mr. Starodubtsev’s impromptu piano performance on their classroom piano and Olga was entertained both in the classroom and on the school’s playground during their visit.