Recent Articles in ‘Schools in need’
The Vancouver Sun’s Child Poverty Forum hoping for answers
As applications flooded in earlier this year for funding from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign, a disturbing picture emerged of child poverty. Amid the applications for iPads, and new playgrounds, and schemes to hire artists or musicians to perform in schools, were requests for breakfast and other food programs and for money to help families
Strathcona’s backpack program gets a $30,000 boost #vansunkidsfund
By Gerry Bellett The uninitiated arriving at Strathcona Community Centre on Thursdays would wonder if they had entered the right building, the place being awash in food, knapsacks, and volunteers sorting and packing fruit and vegetables. Community centres host a variety of programs, including those that make you sweat. But none – except here at
Burnaby school tries to beat odds to feed kids #vansunkids
By Gerry Bellett It doesn’t take long for Marilyn Kwok’s voice to falter when she describes just how hopeless it feels, wanting to feed 40 children breakfast with resources that can only manage to feed about five. Simple arithmetic dictates that 35 must go hungry. It’s mathematics colliding with compassion and it brings Kwok –
Sun readers put Surrey family back on its feet after fire #vansunkids
By Gerry Bellett On Tuesday, the following email arrived at The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-a-School website from Susan McCuaig, principal of Betty Huff elementary, a school located in Surrey’s troubled north end. “ … We have many vulnerable families in our community and one endured a fire in their apartment Monday and they have no insurance.
Schools in need: Morley Elementary is a safe haven for refugee kids
“Compassion before curriculum” is never likely to make it as a school motto given what the institution of education is all about. But it might well describe Burnaby’s Morley elementary. Morley’s a school – the big sign outside says so – but for the 30 or so refugee kids enrolled there it’s a haven first.
Schools in Need: CABE looks after teen mothers and their children
For many Grade 12 students, graduation year is a hectic but fabled time of anticipation and excitement as the world beyond the classroom waits. But for Vanessa Ellingson — the head and breadwinner of a family of three — the thought of leaving the security of Coquitlam’s smallest secondary school fills her with dread. “I’m
Schools in need: Sir William Macdonald elementary faces special challenges
A new iPad is a coveted Christmas gift for many kids. But for the students at Sir William Macdonald elementary, it can be the difference between learning to read, or not. There are only 80 students at the small school at Victoria and Hastings, but a large percentage have been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Schools in need: Fine arts school needs a music teacher… and food, and winter coats
When the Vancouver school board bowed to community pressure and spared Queen Alexandra elementary from closure last year, the school was saved in part by being designated a fine-arts school. But the new label for the inner-city school, located at the busy intersection of Broadway and Clark, didn’t come with any funding for an enriched-arts
Schools in need: Camp, field trips out of the question for Lord Strathcona students
Stand at the entrance of Lord Strathcona elementary in the heart of the Downtown Eastside and look north: There is Grouse Mountain in all its glory — an enormous self-proclaiming advertisement for urban entertainment and middle-class self-indulgence. However, for many children attending Vancouver’s oldest elementary school in the city’s poorest district, that magnificent sight is
Schools in need: 150 students in Whalley’s Kwantlen Park Secondary need help with food, clothes, housing
The need is quickly apparent at the inner-city school of Kwantlen Park secondary in Whalley. Five minutes into a conversation between a school youth worker and a reporter, a teenager is seen crying in the cafeteria and needs consoling. A hungry student pops by to ask if she can get her free lunch – possibly
Schools in need: Surrey breakfast program feeding hungry students, keeping them in school
“A six-year-old that’s hungry is not a pretty picture.” Pat Horstead’s observation, which creates the disturbing image of childhood cuteness distorted by want, came Wednesday in a small cupboard of an office in Surrey’s Georges Vanier elementary in the heart of Whalley. Horstead, an assistant superintendent for Surrey School District, was explaining why the district
Problem solved: Thunderbird Elementary principal overwhelmed by response
Thunderbird elementary school principal Henry Peters was overwhelmed by the response to an appeal Monday for help for his inner-city school where many children come to class hungry. “The response has been fantastic,” said Peters, who Tuesday was trying to return phone calls and reply to emails offering assistance. Thunderbird, in East Vancouver, was featured
Update: Lord Roberts gets $16,000 towards technology to help unlock learning in autistic kids
UPDATE: Since this story was published, Lord Roberts has been inundated with donations. We’re told 42 iPads have been purchased or donated, with 12 of those going to special needs classes. If you have plans to donate iPads or money, please consider other schools in need at http://www.vansunkidsfund.ca Lord Roberts was a British military commander of
School in need: Thunderbird Elementary goes above and beyond with food and laundry
When Henry Peters and Janey Lee graduated, there was nothing in the fine print on their teaching certificates that mentioned having to be semi-professional fundraisers or part-time social workers. Teachers teach, social workers care for a community’s welfare, and mendicant friars with begging bowls have long since been replaced by slick TV hosts and prime-time
Corporate commitment to charities helps students eat healthy breakfast
The lineup of children at Grandview elementary school began early Tuesday morning, as the first whiff of grilled cheese drifted through the gymnasium. It was a day like any other, with several dozen students from kindergarten to Grade 7 watching hungrily as cafeteria worker Ignazia (Nancy) Boucher flipped sandwiches on the grill and set out
Problem solved: Homework Club lands local benefactor and new computers
On Thursday morning, The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-a-School appeal described the sad plight of Britannia secondary school’s Homework Club. The club, which encourages students from the poorest areas of Vancouver to carry on to college or university, was limping along with worn-out, ancient computers and facing a financial shortfall since the death of a donor who
Opinion: Schools forced to feed bodies and minds – and nurture and dress them too
Earlier this week, we received an email from a school principal. It was one of many we’ve received from schools this week, and this particular school, outside of Vancouver, was in a middle-class neighbourhood. Here is what the principal wrote: “One of our families lives in the nearby co-op housing development — two children who
School in need: Britannia Secondary Homework Club needs donors to survive
It’s nothing more than an act of faith when Kim Leary looks around the financially faltering Homework Club – in full swing Monday night at Britannia secondary school – and imagines somehow it will all survive. That somehow is the refuge of every desperate optimist and dreamer but Leary, a teacher at Britannia and the
School in need: Sir John Franklin Community School
Sir John Franklin Community School, in partnership with parents of the community, enables and inspires individuals to discover and develop their full potential as life-long learners in an inclusive, nurturing and supportive environment. Immediate Needs: We strongly believe that the library should be the heart of the school and with your help, we can transform
From bombs to books; Indomitable spirit of ESL students inspired principal to write book
By Janet Steffenhagen From the outside, Edmonds community school looks like an ordinary neighbourhood school. But inside, it is a microcosm. Four out of five students were born outside Canada, more than half are learning English as a second language (ESL) and a third are refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Congo, Iraq and
Schools in need: Britannia Secondary in Vancouver
This amazing program at Britannia Secondary supports the academic, social/emotional and financial needs of inner-city youth struggling to graduate and move on to post-secondary success. Three nights a week – M, T, Th – you will find between 30 and 60 students gathered in the Homework Club to receive free tutoring from volunteers from UBC,
Schools in need: Lord Strathcona Elementary in Vancouver
In the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, Lord Strathcona Community School is Vancouver’s oldest elementary school as it was founded in 1891. Strathcona has a population of over 575 students who attend school in beautiful heritage buildings. Strathcona is located in the heart of Vancouver’s downtown Eastside and has a rich cultural history and a
A teacher asked, and local residents responded: Seymour Elementary smothered in help
Donations began landing at Seymour elementary school in Vancouver early Monday and continued throughout the day, as residents opened their hearts and wallets in response to a plea for help from a teacher on behalf of her disadvantaged eastside students. “I didn’t really expect this,” said Carrie Gelson, breathless after a whirlwind of media interviews
Sustainable funding, holistic approach critical at inner-city schools: community panel
Vancouver schoolteacher Carrie Gelson touched a chord and sparked a conversation with her September letter to Vancouver residents that drew attention to the plight of inner-city schools. That conversation continued at Vancouver Public Library Monday evening, where a panel of teachers, health and community workers discussed the challenges of educating children in poorer neighbourhoods. Janey
Seymour Elementary students witness the magic of Mr Young’s generosity
It’s difficult for Scott Xu to articulate what he loves most about his favourite television show, Mr. Young, but watching the Vancouver nine-year-old try is priceless. “I like it because it’s cool and it’s not boring,” said a smiling Xu, who spun in circles of excitement outside Seymour elementary school before boarding a bus to
Do you know a school in need?
The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund Adopt-A-School program wants to hear from you: Are the students at your local school in need of something that the general public could help with? Clothing, volunteers, food, learning tools – share your stories with us by leaving a comment below. For information about applying for funding from our Adopt-a-School
School in need: Edmonds Community School, Burnaby
Edmonds Community School in Burnaby is a culturally rich and diverse school with more than 48 countries represented by our students and families. Many of the 330 students attending the school have backgrounds from Sudan, Liberia, Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Mexico, The Philippines and El Salvador. The school celebrates their diversity and heritages but
School no longer in need: Lord Roberts Elementary School, Vancouver
UPDATE: Since this story was published, Lord Roberts has been inundated with donations. We’re told 42 iPads have been purchased or donated, with 12 of those going to special needs classes. If you have plans to donate iPads or money, please consider other schools in need at http://www.vansunkidsfund.ca Lord Roberts school in Vancouver was opened
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