We Passed!

5 December 2019Cheryl Murtland, Deputy Head - Director of Academics

November 20th and 21st, Brentwood was under the Ministry of Education microscope to ensure that we are meeting the regulations and expectations of the government in order to remain an accredited school in British Columbia. The documents were gathered to show we comply in our municipality for safety and have had all the necessary inspections. Student records were perused to ensure we are compliant in how we organize and store our files. Teacher certification, Criminal Record Check lists: documents, documents, documents. The greatest task was to have teachers submit an account of their year-long plan for each course. Because of the way in which we offer our academics, arts and physical education courses, we have documentation for 158 courses. We always felt that we offered students a lot of choice and, in fact, we do. When the evaluation was complete, the team made mention of three commendations, a policy-related recommendation, and the advice to ‘keep doing what you’re doing’. The first commendation was for the purposeful approach we take to designing and building new facilities on campus. Each building has its own purpose, as well as contributing to the overall campus experience. The next commendation recognized our tripartite approach to the students’ program. Expecting students to participate in athletics and arts throughout their Brentwood career goes beyond Ministry graduation requirements and the breadth of choice was recognized as outstanding. The final commendation is something I would never have expected to see in an evaluative process. The team highlighted the sense of community that was almost immediately felt when they walked on campus. They noticed how students treat each other, staff and students interact, and how staff interact with other staff. It is something we think of as normal – and every once in a while we have someone come onto campus and remind us of it. If I thought they may be exaggerating, I was reassured when one of the evaluators, who I had met the day before, gave me a hug as she left rather than the expected handshake. We will experience it all over again in six years.

Where Students Choose To Be