Fright Week Follies

8 November 2025Tema BC, Hope '26

The air is colder, the frantic chaos of Airband week is over, and first term is well underway at Brentwood. The word autumnal takes on a fresh meaning on campus with the bright red, yellow and orange leaves of the maple trees lining the driveway, an array of jack o’ lanterns carved by the Hopelings, and the increasing use of the hot chocolate machine at cookie break.

Last year, Whittall debuted their new open house theme, “Haunted House”, which was greatly enjoyed by the community and met with lots of excitement and screams of terror. Spirits were high last Saturday night as students got dressed in their costumes and prepared to brave the unsettling performance of Ms Ramsay in Whittall’s haunted house. However, tragedy occurred, and Mr Neufeld made the decision to cancel the open house due to the sickness that had been spreading through campus like wildfire, in order to protect everyone’s health. He warned everyone to “Wear a mask, wash your hands, and go to bed early!”. Luckily, Fright Week was upon us, and with it, an exciting lineup of events to look forward to – despite this temporary setback.

The celebrations were kicked off on Sunday with an impressive Halloween-themed brunch, put together by Brentwood’s incredible Food Services Team. Later in the day, the grad Class of ‘26 took a trip to visit the Galey Farms haunted house and enjoyed a fun evening together.

Monday brought about the Interhouse door-decorating challenge, to be judged later in the week. Would Whittall take the win for the second year or be outdone by Hopes’ extensive decorations? BEAT also sponsored a jam-making event. Sweet!

On Tuesday, we had a much-needed break from uniforms and enjoyed an orange and black dress-up day. Wednesday’s post-dinner activities included cookie decorating and pumpkin carving in McNeills, and on Thursday, the SAC and Beat collaborated to organize candy apple making, using apples from a local orchard. On Friday, the whole school came to class dressed up in full costume. Mr Neufeld’s impersonation of Gru from Minions was one of the most remarkable outfits – and BEAT hosted a Kahoot at Cookie Break.

Finally, Whittall Open was back on, and the students got their long-awaited haunted house experience. Rowan T said “I had lots of fun getting to hand out candy and scare my friends”. The celebrations continued on Saturday with the third dress-up day of the week, as we assembled in blue and white to show support for the Blue Jays. Ms Allen said, “I’m so nervous, it’s been thirty-two years since this happened, so it’s a big night” in reference to the final game.

After a week of lots of fun activities, spirits were high as teachers and students pushed through the final days of school before the November Midterm, and we will look forward to returning to campus after a much-needed break.

Tema BC, Hope ‘26

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