West Vancouver Secondary School
| West Vancouver Secondary School | |
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| File:West Vancouver Secondary School.png | |
| Location | |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Carpe Mentulam (Do without speaking) |
| Religious affiliation(s) | None |
| Established | 1927 1952 (present site) |
| School board | West Vancouver School District |
| Principal | Mr. Steve Rauh |
| Grades | 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 |
| Enrollment | 1 523 (2009) |
| Campus | Urban (North Campus) Urban (South Campus) |
| Team name | Highlanders |
| Website | [1] |
West Vancouver Secondary School (WVSS) is a five-year secondary school located in the middle of West Vancouver, British Columbia which educates grades 8 through 12. It is one of the three public high schools in West Vancouver. WVSS is noted[citation needed] for being a very diverse[clarification needed] school offering many opportunities for its students, and has a reputation of excellence[citation needed] as a public school. The school has two campuses, a North Campus and a South Campus. Each campus has its own gym and a cafeteria. The school has 2 grass fields and a gravel baseball diamond. The main field has a running track around it. The main field is used for all sports, such as soccer, football, and rugby union.
The Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts
In 2004, new $12 million CAD performing arts centre was constructed over the school's old theatre. The Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts was the vision of West Vancouver Resident Kay Meek who died in 2004. The centre features a main theatre with seating for 490 as well as a flexible black box studio theatre with seating up to 216 . The studio theatre was finished in February 2006. The first show in the theatre by WVSS was a very small show while the main theatre was still under construction. Kay's health was going downhill and so they created a small show just for her. The Kay Meek Centre hosts performances from The Vancouver Recital Society, Early Music Vancouver, and The Arts Club Theatre Company as well as local community organizations like Theatre West Vancouver.
International Baccalaureate program
WVSS is a member of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. It is one of the two public schools on the North Shore to provide the High School program (the other being Carson Graham Secondary School[1]), thus drawing people from Squamish to Deep Cove and even downtown Vancouver to the school. It offers a variety of IB courses, such as Biology, Chemistry, English, Film, French, Geography, History, Japanese, Mandarin, Mathematics, Physics, Spanish, Theatre, and Visual Arts at higher or standard level. The standard Diploma programme course, Theory of Knowledge, is required in this program.
WVSS is the only public high school in the West Vancouver School District to offer the IBO Diploma programme; however, Mulgrave School also offers the IBO Diploma. The other three secondary schools in the district, Rockridge, Sentinel and Collingwood, a private school, offer the Advanced Placement (AP) Program.
West Vancouver Athletics
WVSS has a reputation for having a good sports program[citation needed], and is home to up to 42 different sports, depending on how many students for each team.