Lord Byng Secondary School

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Lord Byng Secondary School
Lord byng.svg
Custos Morum (Latin)
Guardian of Morals
Address
3939 West 16th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia, V5R 3C9, Canada
Coordinates 49°15′31″N 123°11′32″W / 49.258634°N 123.192112°W / 49.258634; -123.192112Coordinates: 49°15′31″N 123°11′32″W / 49.258634°N 123.192112°W / 49.258634; -123.192112
Information
School number 03939038
School board School District 39 Vancouver
Religious affiliation none
Superintendent Steve Cardwell
Area trustee Sharon Gregson
Principal Annette Vey-Chilton[1]
Vice principal Alec MacInnes, Jim Rutley[1]
Administrator Rita Nardi[1]
School type Public high school
Grades 8-12
Language English
Area West Point Grey
Team name Grey Ghosts
Colours Scarlet and Grey         
Founded 1925 (1925)
Enrolment 1325 [2] (2009)
Homepage byng.vsb.bc.ca

Lord Byng Secondary School is a grade 8-12 school located in the West Point Grey neighbourhood on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The school officially opened in 1925 and was named in honour of The Lord Byng of Vimy, a hero of Vimy Ridge as well as the Gallipoli Campaign, and was largely responsible for the incorporation of tanks on a large scale at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. At the time during which the school opened, Lord Byng was the Governor General of Canada.

Lord Byng Secondary School

The school was expanded in 2003 with a new library and gymnasium, as well as studios and classrooms. After being ranked the most vulnerable school to earthquakes in 2004/05, Lord Byng Secondary became the site of a seismic upgrade. Construction ended in the summer of 2005.

In the 2005-2006 school year, Byng Art's Theatre Company and the school gained national attention for staging the play The Laramie Project after the Surrey School Board banned the play.[3]

Contents

[edit] Byng Arts Mini School

The Byng Arts Mini School is a program for students which places artistic development at the core of the high school experience through enrichment in the fine arts as well as academics. Traditionally, students have specialized in Visual Arts, Band, Strings, or Theatre, but options have expanded to include Literary and Media Arts.

The School offers an intensive program that is designed for students who wish to direct their energies and passions towards the arts, to work within a community of students who share their interests, and to maintain strong academic achievement.

The program promotes both academic and artistic excellence while fostering interdisciplinary awareness and individual creativity through curricular and extracurricular activities in the fine arts, literary arts and applied fine arts.[4]

[edit] Lord Byng sports

Lord Byng sports teams are named after their school mascot the Grey Ghost. Lord Byng sports teams include Cross-country, Bantam Boys Rugby, Juvenile Boys Rugby, Bantam Girls Volleyball, Juv/Junior Girls Volleyball, Senior Girls Volleyball, Swimming, Girls Basketball, Bantam Girls Basketball, Juvenile Girls Basketball, Jr/Senior Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, Bantam Boys Basketball, Juv/Junior Boys Basketball, Senior Boys Basketball, Bantam Boys Volleyball, Grade 8/Juvenile Girls Soccer, Senior Girls Soccer (Tier II), Girls Premier Soccer (Tier I), Tennis, Ultimate , Girls Softball, Track & Field, Junior Boys Rugby, Senior Boys Rugby, Badminton, and Golf as well as various inter-mural sports. Some of their most recent wins (2011) include their Cross Country team's Team Aggregate Championship award and the Grade 8 Boys Rugby City Championship for defeating Charles Tupper 15-12 in the finals.[5][6]

[edit] Lord Byng Music Department

Under the direction of the Fine Arts department head, Scott MacLennan, Lord Byng has one of the best music programs in the Lower Mainland. Many of the groups, including the high-level Senior Honour Orchestra and Senior Wind Ensemble, have consistently placed 1st or gold in provincial and national competitions.

Under conductor and teacher Odette Kurth, Lord Byng's strings ensembles have won over twenty-five Kiwanis Festival Gold Awards (Provincial Competition) and three Gold Awards from the National Competition MusicFest. In 2008, the Senior Honour Orchestra won the trophy for first place in the North West Orchestra Competition in Portland, Oregon, and in 2010, both Junior and Senior Honour Orchestras received gold standing in the Heritage Music Festival in Seattle, Washington. The Senior Honour Orchestra has been invited to compete in the American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival in Atlanta. They will be competing against advanced American school orchestras in the festival later this year.[7]

The Lord Byng Symphony Orchestra is a unique feature of Lord Byng, and one of the only public school symphony orchestras in the province. Students are expected to perform unabridged symphonies and pieces. A few grade 12 soloists (at least one per term) are chosen to perform concertos.[8]

Lord Byng offers a variety of programs, both in band and strings. Listed below are some of the classes that are currently offered:

  • Beginner Band
  • Junior Band
  • Intermediate Band
  • Senior Band / Wind Ensemble
  • Junior Jazz Band
  • Intermediate Jazz Band
  • Senior Jazz Band
  • Beginner Orchestra
  • Intermediate Orchestra
  • Senior Orchestra
  • Junior Honour Orchestra
  • Senior Honour Orchestra
  • Junior Symphony Orchestra
  • Symphony Orchestra
  • Choir

Some of the notable band trips include Osaka, Japan (1970), Austria and Germany (2003), New York City (2005), Italy (2007), England (2009), and China (2011).

[edit] Achievements

Lord Byng Secondary School received a rating of 9.2 out of 10 in 2007 from an independent reviewer. It ranked 13th out of the 291 schools ranked in that same review. As of 2006, Lord Byng was tied with University Hill as the top overall ranked public school in the Lower Mainland.

[edit] Lord Byng and Hollywood

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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