by Oliver Matisz, a Grade Eight student attending Prince of Wales Secondary School (Sept 2021) On Friday June 14, 1941, Prince of Wales School Principal, J.H Hall, stood solemnly before a full assembly of students gathered in the school auditorium and announced that the secondary portion of the school would close prior to the [...]

           by Helen Weston (Wickstrom, 1945) A collection of fact and fun which tells, in  part, the “STORY OF FAIRVIEW”   For the Reunion of Teachers and Students Before the Final Closing FAIRVIEW HIGH SCHOOL OF COMMERCE 1540 West Broadway Vancouver, B. C. MAY 25, 1963   DEDICATION           [...]

During 1918–19, a global influenza epidemic killed millions of people, including some 50,000 Canadians. At the height of the epidemic, King Edward High School served as a hospital for several months.   The following excerpts, from Vancouver School Board medical reports sent to the BC Ministry of Education, are a study in contrast. The [...]

 5th Division – with Teacher, Miss Emma Hay – on the steps of Central School, Vancouver (1890)   INTRODUCTION Who was Emma Hay and what challenges did she face while she was a teacher? A good source of information – the reports sent by Vancouver school officials to the Superintendent of Education for the Province of British [...]

Vivian Jung (upper right) and Principal, Mr. Lightbody (upper left) pose with the Tecumseh School League Winners – Girls Volleyball, Vancouver School District (1963)   Vivian Jung, born in Merritt, BC in 1924, became the first Chinese-Canadian teacher hired by the Vancouver School Board. As part of her teacher training, Vivian was [...]

                                                                                                                                                                           PORTRAIT OF A HIGH SCHOOL                                        [...]

December 17, 2020 Message from Edie Kernighan, JO Legacy Society Exciting news!  Our beautiful collage is on display in the foyer at JO.  Thank you to all who made this happen – the beginning of more great things to come with the archives.  We appreciate everyone’s hard work and patience to make this happen.  Special thanks to [...]

by Derek Grant   BACKGROUND At the time I organised this field trip, I was in my third year of teaching, and my second year as a member of the Britannia Secondary School’s Social Studies Department. Vancouver teachers were being encouraged to see the world outside their classrooms as offering rich opportunities for learning. A four-day [...]

Kerrisdale School, 1925   THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGINAL KERRISDALE SCHOOL                                                                                                                 by Oliver Matisz                                                          [...]

Hastings Mill, 1886   The text for this Feature Story is taken from an article published in 1911 in the British Columbia Magazine, Vol. VII, No. 6. The photos featured in the article are from the Vancouver School Board District Archives and the City of Vancouver Archives.   THE ROMANCE OF VANCOUVER’S SCHOOLS by A. M. Ross, B.A. In [...]