Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School (Vancouver)

Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School is a public secondary school located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Churchill Secondary is one of two International Baccalaureate schools (along with Britannia Secondary School) and one of three French Immersion secondary schools in Vancouver. It is named after the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill. Churchill has the largest student body population in district 39 with about 2000 students in the campus.

Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School
Address
7055 Heather Street

Vancouver
,
British Columbia
,
V6P 3P7

Canada
Coordinates49°13′15″N 123°07′28″W
Information
School typePublic, Secondary school
MottoLatin: Pro Virili Parte
(Run it down mid)
Founded1956 (1956)
School boardSchool District 39 Vancouver
SuperintendentSuzanne Hoffman
Area trusteeFraser Ballantyne
School number3939015
DirectorMagdalena Kassis (Director of Instruction)
PrincipalAnnette Chey-Vilton
Grades8-12
Enrollment2000[1] (2017)
Capacity1850
LanguageEnglish, French Immersion
AreaMarpole
Colour(s)Red, Blue and White    
MascotBulldog
Team nameChurchill Bulldogs
Public transit access15, 17, 49, Canada Line
Websitevsb.bc.ca/schools/sir-winston-churchill

Churchill is fed by the surrounding elementary schools in its catchment area. They include Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary School, Dr. Annie B. Jamieson Elementary School, Sir William Osler Elementary School, J.W. Sexsmith Elementary School, and David Lloyd George Elementary School. Although not within Churchill's catchment area, L'École Bilingue, Kerrisdale Elementary School, L'École Quilchena and Sir James Douglas Elementary School feed into its French Immersion Program.

Special programs

IB programme

Churchill Secondary offers an International Baccalaureate Programme, which attracts many students from the school district to apply. The school also offers the IB Certificate Programme, which allows students in the regular BC provincial curriculum to take part in IB courses. This option is only open when there is a vacancy in that particular class. IB courses include English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History, Art, Psychology, Film Studies, Theatre, Mathematics, and Theory of Knowledge. French Immersion students entering the IB Programme may opt to take a more advanced French course, allowing them to earn a BC French Dogwood Diploma and a bilingual IB diploma simultaneously.

Information sessions are held each year for entry into the program which requires a written application, previous academic performance record, standardized testing (PSAT), and an interview.

As part of Global Families, a project where IB students choose a developing country to educate others on, students host World Awareness Day in which they set up displays in downtown Vancouver to teach the public about their country of choice. Students can also get involved as a member of IB Council or as an IB Director.

The program prepares students for post-secondary studies, with the possibility of receiving post-secondary credit for transferable courses, and many of Churchill's IB graduates go on to study at the University of British Columbia.

Prelude programme

There is also a Pre-IB programme in grade 10 which is called Prelude from 2016. Prelude is available for both French Immersion and English students. There is one class of French Immersion Prelude students and two classes of English Prelude Students.

Ideal Mini School
Main article: Ideal Mini School

Ideal Mini School is a grade 8–12 mini school program.

Synergy programme

The Synergy programme is for students in grades 8 and 9 who have demonstrated excellence and wish to augment their learning through an enhanced curriculum. A portfolio and an entrance test are required for admission.

French immersion

Secondary French immersion is for students continuing on from elementary French immersion. There are two types of French immersion programs in elementary school: regular "French immersion" and "late-immersion". "French immersion" refers to French immersion programs that begin at the kindergarten level, while "late-immersion" refers to French immersion programs that begin in the 4th grade. Students can receive a Bilingual Graduation Certificate. Students in French immersion can also participate in the IB program and receive a bilingual IB diploma. Students participate yearly in a French speech arts competition and are categorized between anglophone and francophone.

Clubs

Sir Winston Churchill has over 100 different clubs to join with something for everyone. You can find many different groups such as Dissection club, service club, debate club, yoga club and many others for you to discover and enjoy.

Science fair

An annual school science fair is held at Churchill Secondary, and twenty projects are chosen to represent the school at the Vancouver District Science Fair. Winners there move onto the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair, and then onto the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Athletics

The school's mascot is a bulldog, since Sir Winston Churchill, whom the school is named after, looked like a bulldog. It offers volleyball, boys soccer, field hockey, swimming, curling, and cross country teams in the fall; basketball, girls ice hockey, and table tennis teams in the winter; and girls soccer, rugby, track & field, badminton, tennis, golf, girls softball, and ultimate teams in the springtime.[2] Teams are divided by age group: Bantam (Grade 8), Juvenile (Grade 9), Junior (Grade 10), and Senior (Grades 11 & 12).

Basketball

The school has 8 competitive teams for boys and girls and offers a basketball course to further student's skills. Every year the school hosts the Bulldog Classic, a basketball tournament with schools participating from around the Greater Vancouver region.[3] On March 16, 2014, the Senior Boys Basketball Team won the AAAA B.C. High School Boys Championship against Surrey's Holy Cross.[4]

Field hockey

Churchill has a Senior A field hockey team, which practices on the school campus's upper field. In 2012, Churchill Senior A was almost undefeated in the regular season except for a 1-0 loss against Richmond's McMath. They also won the Vancouver city championship that year. along with the championships from 2015-2018. Churchill Senior A had consistently won a seed in the BC AAA Girls Field Hockey Provincials,[5] however, in the 2013 season lost the seat to rivals Eric Hamber Griffins.[6] In the recent years, Churchill has done well in provincials and placed 8th in 2018 then however slipping down to 13th place in 2019.

Swimming

Since 2015 the school has a swimming team, that competes on a city level and takes part in the British Columbia provincial championship.

Extra-curricular activities

Sir Winston Churchill is a competitor in Reach for the Top, and has won the provincial championship in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Churchill students have participated in local science fairs. Clubs at the school include supporting various advocacy groups and interests, including a debate team, such as the Free the Children, World Vision, UNICEF and Amnesty International clubs. The school also hosts several student-run publications including the Big Bang Science Journal, Newsfeed and Extended Essay. In 2010, Churchill had the most runners as a school in the Vancouver Sun Run with 721 participants. Churchill's student-run website SWCsocial hosts the Churchill's Got Talent music competition powered by online voting and filmed the school's lip dub video.[7]

Sustainability

Churchill has several sustainability student groups, with Environmental Club[8] and the Youth 4 Tap Club being the most notable. The Youth 4 Tap Club succeeding in banning the sale of plastic water bottles on campus.[9] There is also recycling and composting club. The school also offers an environmental stewardship course for tenth graders, which develops sustainability projects and tends to the school vegetable garden.

Notable alumni

References
  1. Long Range Facilities Plan 2019: Appendix G (PDF) (Report). May 29, 2019. p. 1. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. https://sites.google.com/site/swcathletics/about-the-team
  3. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=215943278489547&id=163187443765131&stream_ref=10
  4. https://vancouversun.com/sports/Mindy+Minhas+Winston+Churchill+bring+home+first+senior+boys+basketball+title/9622987/story.html
  5. http://www2.canada.com/news/patrick+pair+goals+carries+churchill+bulldogs+field+hockey+city/7501695/story.html?id=7501695
  6. http://www.vancourier.com/sports/field-hockey-hamber-edges-churchill-in-must-win-game-1.675568
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lKi-HRNuQE&hd=1
  8. List of clubs
  9. Meeting minutes
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