West Point Grey Academy

West Point Grey Academy is an independent, co-educational, university-preparatory school founded in 1996. Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It delivers the British Columbia Ministry of Education curriculum from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12.

West Point Grey Academy
Address
4125 West 8th Avenue Vancouver , British Columbia , V6R 4P9
Information
School type	Independent
Motto	"Progredimini Confidenter" (Go Forth with Confidence)
Headmaster	Clive Austin
Grades	PreK-12
Language	English
Colour(s)	Green, navy blue, black     {color box
Mascot	Wolf, Wally the
Team name	Grey Wolves
Affiliation	None

|founded= 1996 |enrollment= 880 |homepage= http://www.wpga.ca |coordinates =49°14′50.34″N 123°12′1.07″W }}

History

Established in 1996 and located in Vancouver, WPGA offers a broad range of programmes and classes extending from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12. WPGA is about people, academics, community, and individual growth. The school offers a rigorous curriculum built on a foundation of self-confidence and achievement.

Mission statement

In the 2004/2005 school year WPGA completed an academic advancement plan and launched a new mission statement: "At West Point Grey Academy we are a community of Renaissance learners. By igniting the spirit of inquiry, creativity, and exploration, we challenge our students to develop a passion for excellence." This educational philosophy is in addition to the school's motto - Progredimini Confidenter: Go Forth With Confidence - and stresses a four pillar approach to education: academics, athletics, fine and performing arts, and community service.

Athletics

All students from Pre-K to grade 12 are enrolled in Physical Education classes. The WPGA campus features a large double gymnasium, pool, fitness centre, tennis courts, and multi-sport fields. Main sports include soccer, basketball, volleyball, cross-country swimming and track and field.

WPGA fields a variety of athletic teams from grade 5 through grade 12 competing as members of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools. School teams also compete in local city and independent school leagues and are also registered in the 'A' division of the BC School Sports Provincial Championships.

WPGA is currently home to the BC Elementary Schools Track and Field Champions.

WPGA won their first high school provincial championship banner in fall 2010 with their varsity girls cross-country team capturing the 'AAA' BC High-School Cross-Country Championships title.

WPGA is now working with Strength & Conditioning coach Jonathan Lerner to improve the fitness level of the students currently attending West Point Grey Academy.

Fine and Performing Arts

West Point Grey Academy's Fine and Performing Arts faculty is hosted in a dedicated Arts Wing (made up of several visual arts studios, a ceramics room, band room, choir room, recording studio, and wood-shop).

Since 1997 the school's drama program has annually produced a large scale production with ticket sales open to the Greater Vancouver community. In 2005 the school produced its first musical, The Sound of Music, and has since strived to produce a musical every other year. In 2007 it put on The Wizard of Oz at the Richmond Gateway Theatre. The department put on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as adapted for the stage in 2009 with a production of Anne of Green Gables in 2010. The most recent production is the musical, Beauty and the Beast coming in 2011.

The school's band and strings program is quickly growing, regularly performing in the community. In April 2007 the school's concert band and choirs undertook their first international band trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Every May the school hosts a week long celebration of the arts. During this week, classes are shortened to allow for artistic workshops and guest artists to give presentations. The evenings also feature large scale musical productions, including Coffee House Night and Cabaret Night.

Community service

The school and its student body continually stress the importance of community stewardship. The school hosts groups which regularly volunteer at the Union Gospel Mission as well as other local community based initiatives. In March 2006, six students and two teachers joined a Canadian team to travel to Tanzania to summit Mount Kilimanjaro in order to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. They worked to generate HIV/AIDS Awareness in schools around the Lower Mainland, and succeeded in raising over $40,000 for charity. West Point Grey Academy was also responsible for reinstating the Vancouver Independent Schools' Charity Ball in February 2005, and in July 2007 successfully completed a school-building service trip to Ecuador. During the 2006-2007 school year, a number of WPGA students collaborated to plan, organize, and run Urban Aid, a benefit concert to raise money for Covenant House Vancouver. The concert showcased a number of Vancouver independent groups and artists, and was attended by over 300 high school students from around the Lower Mainland. The event raised over $5,000 for charity.

Debate and public speaking

West Point Grey Academy is renowned for having one of the strongest speech and debate programs in Canada. Coached by Ms. Tracey Lee, who is currently the Canadian National Debate (Team Canada) coach, WPGA debaters have competed throughout Canada, the United States, England, Greece, Germany, South Africa, and South Korea. Of particularly notable acclaim, WPGA debate alumnus Andrew Rusk placed fifth at the World Individual Public Speaking Championships in both 2006 & 2007, was the top Canadian Speaker at the International Independent School Public Speaking Championships in both 2005 & 2006, and was the team Captain of the Canadian National Team in the 2006/2007 school year. Iqbal Kassam ('10) is the second WPGA student selected to the National team and was Team Canada's top speaker at the 2009 World Schools Debate Championships. Kassam recently won the Parliamentary debates at the Worlds Individual Speech and Debates (Reading, England). Jonathan Carson ('10) was the third WPGA student selected to the National team, joining his partner on the 2010 team.

West Point Grey is currently home to the Senior Canadian National High School Champions three years running (Sean Husband & Helenaz Hajifattahi, 2008; Iqbal Kassam & Jonny Carson, 2009, 2010).

The school's Model UN team has competed at a number of international competitions including the National High School MUN (New York), Harvard Model UN (Boston), SSUNS McGill and Harvard Model Congress in Athens, Greece and Brussels, Belgium. In addition to receiving a number of delegate awards, the team has also received notable acclamation as the Top International Delegation at the Harvard Model United Nations in both 2005 and 2006 and McGill's SSUNS in 2008. The school's Model UN program has hosted their own conference, - the Vancouver Youth Model United Nations (VYMUN) - every October for the past four years.

Media Attention

In 2007 WPGA gained media attention when students accessed mid year exams. Forensic experts were hired to determine how the security breach occurred. Three students who were allegedly involved were expelled over the incident. However, only one of the expelled students actually had any involvement with the theft.

WPGA also received attention for the shooting deaths of two parents on separate occasions, with Macleans running an editorial on the controversy surrounding the second death.

External links

• Official site