On April 23^rd & 24^th L’Ecole Sherwood Park School presented this year’s musical theatre production – Aladdin! For four months most of their intermediate student body were involved with the show and even recruited students from Seycove (all former Sherwood “stars”) as the backstage crew. I am told 120 Sherwood students willingly gave up their lunch hour and before/after school time so they could be a part of the production. I was able to watch an afternoon rehearsal and was amazed by the students’ professionalism and passion for the stage.

So many staff and parent volunteers worked tirelessly to make Aladdin a success – special congratulations to Artistic Directors Pamela McLeod, Gillian Irwin, Bruce Sled and Doug Irwin.

The Canadian Parents for French Concours d’art oratoire (French public speaking competition) is a long-standing tradition in our school district.  On April 16^th 2013, 37 French Immersion (FI), Late French Immersion (LFI) and Francophone students from across North Vancouver participated in the North Vancouver School District Concours d’art oratoire final.  It was a beautiful day and students came with great enthusiasm to present a wide variety of well-prepared and entertaining speeches.

2013 District Finals, Elementary Concours Winners from left to right:
Mia Vosburgh (LFI 7e Braemar), Genevieve Naidoo (Francophone 6e Cleveland), Arthur Akbulatov (LFI 6e Boundary), Kaya Brossard (FI 7e Sherwood Park), and Spencer Haslam (FI 6e Dorothy Lynas)

2013 District Finals – Secondary Finalists
Secondary Concours Winners:
Kelsey Truran (FI 8e Argyle), Juliette Sachet (Francophone 8e Handsworth), Austyn Jasper (FI 9e Windsor),    Alicia Schmitt (Francophone 9e Handsworth), Stephanie Grondin (FI 10e Handsworth), Catherine Maguire (Francophone 10e Argyle), HarnieshTakhar (FI 11e Handsworth), and
Irene Carrasco (FI 12e Handsworth)

Winners from the district competition then went on to compete with students from across BC in the Provincial Concours d’art oratoire held at SFU Surrey Campus on Saturday May 4^th 2013.

Austyn Jasper and Irene Carrasco at the district finals.

Huge congratulations to both Austyn Jasper (Immersion 9e – Windsor) and Irene Carrasco (Immersion 12e – Handsworth) who placed 1^st in their respective categories at the provincial competition!  As Irene Carrasco is in grade 12, she has been offered a $2,000 entrance scholarship to the University of Ottawa and she now has the opportunity to go on to travel to the national Concours in Ottawa to compete for a $20,000 scholarship to the University of Ottawa, among other prizes!

This year’s Concours d’art oratoire was a very successful event.  We are proud of the effort and dedication of all students who competed in both the district and provincial competitions.   The speeches were well written and well presented to an audience of their peers, teachers and parents.

For more information about Concours d’art oratoire, please visit the Canadian Parents for French website (www.cpf.bc.ca).

Félicitations à tous!

April 12, 2013

The annual performance tradition continues! This year, our Elementary Honour Band and Honour Strings students will perform in a concert with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on April 22nd. Every year, preparing for the concert provides students in our Band & Strings program with a rare opportunity to learn from local, professional musicians.

The pinnacle performance is always a not-to-be-missed event on our calendar. Tickets are available through VSO Customer Service at 604.876.3434.

Daylen Luchsinger, AFK Program Facilitator with young AFK Artist, Jasmine

Monday evening, March 11 was a celebration of the winter after school art program.  Approximately 250 people dropped by to enjoy the student exhibition hung amidst the Artists for Kids Permanent Teaching Collection. For some students this was their first foray into the life of an exhibiting young artist while for many of the students this show is a part of their regular exhibition cycle as Artist for Kids After School Art Veterans.

The celebrated Artists for Kids Program is an incredibly rich visual arts education program made possible through the generous support of the Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists (a registered charity) and through the sale of prints to the public provided through partnerships with our artist patrons.  The AFK Program and the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art are unique community treasures of North Vancouver!

This year’s District Elementary Band and Strings Festival took place on March 7^th and 8^th at the Lucas Centre. In all, 26 elementary schools participated in this annual celebration of music. School groups performed for each other over the two days and enjoyed the opportunity to share, learn and listen. Thursday night’s concert featuring the 2013 District Honour Band and Honour Strings performers drew a crowd of over 500 students and parents, and was standing room only! Two professional groups conducted workshops with the band and strings groups prior to their concerts – the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Infinitus Strings.

The Band and Strings Program is one of the exceptional features of the North Vancouver School District made possible through the tremendous efforts of our teachers, our parents, and our partner groups.  ‘Instrumental’ in providing leadership to this event has been teacher Lasse Leslie who organized over 1,000 student participants with the strong support of our District’s Band & Strings teachers.  Thank you for making this event a great success!