The Concours d’Art Oratoire
The Concours d'Art Oratoire
By Nicholas Loughton
On May 7, 2010, 12 students from SMUS traveled to Vancouver to participate in the annual provincial French public...
Scholarship
Last Saturday in the Business Section of the Globe and Mail, the School and one of its alumni, Hugh McGillivray, were featured. Here is...
CAIS
All capitals?
Yes. As I write this I am on a plane to Toronto, for a full day of meetings to work on the Strategic...
Good Health
Inspired by the worst cold I have had in years, the topic of good health has sprung full-blown into my thoughts. Fortunately, I am...
My Heart Will Go On
It was SMUS’s own Celine that sang this song in Middle School Chapel this week. The original was sung by a different Celine, who...
Nepal trek – morning, day 3: Poon Hill
If you are a parent, or a teacher, or a student, you know that the pace of life at the school can be unthinkingly...
Middle School Stories on the SMUS Review
A number of stories about the Middle School have been featured on the SMUS Review:
Spring Break Stories: French Culture Trip
Melodies From the Middle School
Middle...
Gaming Exploratory at the Middle School
Gaming Exploratory at the Middle School
Written by Shinai Sorensen, Grade 8
Out of all the exploratories at St. Michaels University School (SMUS) there was one...
The Greek gods: learning and results
We have all probably experienced such a moment: someone we know – who may be gifted, special, or loved but who is actually, nevertheless,...
The Masters
Like most golfers, enough of my good shots are sprinkled among the mediocre and the bad to believe that on some future day, the...
Speeches
In Taipei, as in some of our other far flung communities that send more than a handful of students to board at the school,...
Stress, distress, balance
These thoughts were prompted by a conversation with a school parent who came to lunch in Tokyo yesterday. Every March my wife, Joan, and...
Seattle
Because of chronic tendonitis in my thigh, my squash games are now restricted to a few games every year with alumni. Seattle happens to...
The Center of the Universe
Written by: Grade 6 Science Students, Olivia Donald & Aveen Glen
On Wednesday, February 24, the Grade 6 Science classes went on a field trip...
The School is the Learning Centre
Next week we will be interviewing for the new position of Director of Learning. The position had its genesis in a single, simple idea:...
Winter Olympics at the Middle School!
Written by Jake Wilmot and Owen Sudul, House Council Members
On Thursday, in light of the 2010 Olympics, SMUS MIddle School held its own Winter...
Achy Breaky Heart
It is always illuminating when the butterfly that emerges from the chrysalis turns out to be a creature quite different from our expectations. We...
Middle School Art Greets Olympic Athletes
By Leanne Wilkins, Middle School Art Teacher
Grade 6 and 7 students at SMUS Middle School spent some time last fall creating “original, colourful and...
Poetry in Mrs. Lee’s Grade 6 Humanities Class
By Grade 6 student Jasper Johnson
This term our grade six class "ate" poetry, after being inspired by the poem, "Reading Poetry" by Mary McIver....
Learning
We are currently looking to hire someone for a new position at the school, Director of Learning. A brief description of the position can...
Six String Nation
At the opening of the Spotlight on Canada concert on Wednesday – which featured the School’s “large ensembles” (Senior Choir, Concert Choir, Grade 9 Band,...
Scholar In Residence Speaks to Grade 6 Students
The 'Scholar In Residence' program is sponsoring another visitor to SMUS who will be spending some of his time with Middle School students as...
Borealis String Quartet At The Middle School
On January 25, SMUS will be hosting the Borealis String Quartet. The quartet will be performing for many of our Grade 6-8 students and for the Grade...
Rosa Parks
As soon as I tug out the long gym bench at Junior School Assembly, some of the students, especially the Grade 4s and 5s,...
New Middle School toilets to save about 350,000 litres of water per year
From the SMUS E-Team
Thanks to Mr. Floyd, the Middle School now has six new efficient toilets! The replacement of the old toilets, which used 13...
Pakse, Laos
This is the school we planned to visit, but couldn't.
Pakse is in southern Laos, in a very poor, steamy lowland, full of farms and...
A Grade 7 Mathematics Activity
(submitted by Athena; a Grade 7 student)
In Math Enrichment we have been focusing on trigonometry. We have learned how to find missing angles and...
Another King
Like the English School, the next school we visited in Kathmandu, has its locked gate. This was a public school, named after Mihendra Bir...
Grade 8 ESL Trip to the Museum and Theatre
(submitted by Mr. Newman)
On December 9, the Grade 8 ESL students made their first educational foray into the Royal B.C. Museum. Accompanied by their...
Celebrations in Grade 6 Humanities
Grade 6 students have been studying various cultures throughout the year as part of their Humanities course. As the holiday season approaches, we have been...
Glowing lanterns in the Chapel
(submitted by Ms. Wilkins)
With thanks to the student volunteers and Rev. Fletcher, the Chapel was glowing with the Grade 8 Clay Lanterns at the...
Middle School Sports Scene
(submitted by Mrs. Mollenhauer)
Well, it has certainly been a busy fall on the Middle School sports scene. From U-13 boys and U-15 girls' soccer traveling...
The British School, Kathmandu
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a national average per capita income of approximately $447 US. Another indication of...
Carol Service
The Middle School held its annual Carol Service yesterday and it was a fabulous evening. It's now been a few years that we have...
Grade 8 Cross Grade PE
Submitted by Mr. Kuklinski
As part of the Grade 8 Physical Education program, the students have a double block of classes each day 1 and...
Pacific Rim Pen Pals at Middle School
Mrs. Lee's grade 6 Humanities classes are studying the culture of the Pacific Rim and doing a cross-cultural comparison with Canada. Our research will...
Coins For Kids and the Festival of Trees Service Project
Submitted by Mrs. Smith
The British Columbia Children’s Hospital annually launches a fundraising campaign through a Festival of Trees, held at the Fairmont Empress Hotel....
Fertile ground
The taxi driver who took us from our hotel in Amman, Jordan to King’s Academy, in Madaba, had formerly worked in tourism in the...
Istanbul
Ece, the female receptionist at our hotel, was impressed when the driver from Robert College arrived to take us there. Her eyes were wide...
Un beau métier
C’est un beau métier, c’est un très beau métier.
My host, Yannick, had been a captain of an ocean-going commercial ship, had made a career...
Welcome to the Middle School Blog
An Opening Comment from Xavier Abrioux
Parents of students who have been at the Middle School the past few years may remember our Middle School...
Hard times
I wasn't really thinking about the novel by Dickens when I thought up this title, but maybe the connection is there.
I ate a tasty...
A l’école
I was introduced to Momo – short for Mohammed – at the door of our riad. He must be intelligent, because he found it....
Medersa Ben Youssef
Appropriately, as I write this, I can hear one of the five calls to prayer that rise over the other sounds of the city,...
Flickr
No, it’s not a spelling mistake. In fact, for Joan and me, it’s one of our main means of stretching those elastic strands that...
More than the rest
A favourite digression when I travel is to visit the local art gallery, in this case, the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, which does...
En Voyage
“Fortunate” is definitely the word that best describes my mood today, as I dispense with a full slate of appointments and messages, preparing for...
Steve Nash, class of 1992; to learn, to lead, to serve.
Two-time MVP of the National Basketball Association, SMUS alumnus Steve Nash was at the school today to speak to us all, Grade 5 to...
Cosmopolitanism
It’s hard to say exactly what is the presiding spirit of the first week of school. The renewed friendships after a summer apart, broadcast...
Conscience is on the curriculum
Coming out of the Tyndall Strings Room in Schaffter Hall on Tuesday night of this week, I turned to someone and said, “you know,...
The Canadian Educational Standards Institute
Later today the Canadian Educational Standards Institute (CESI) is putting up its new website, and we are one of the featured schools (http://www.cesi.edu/). The...
New York University in Abu Dhabi
In April, our University Counselling Office was invited to New York City by NYU to hear a presentation on its new campus in Abu...
Spring has sprung
I know this because tonight there is a wrap-up reception for the convenors and some others on behalf of the Spring Fair, hosted by...
Keep the Beat – Chantal Kreviazuk
So much music happening! The sun is brilliant. It is recess. Pink Keep the Beat t-shirts are moving around the main quad. At the...
Thirty years of girls
Nicky Parkinson '83, who started at SMUS in 1980, the year after girls first entered the Senior School, gives a grad bear...
New man on campus
Friday evening we had an affecting event to kick off Alumni Weekend: the unveiling of the Wenman statue. Reg Wenman was a student at...
Worth it
Tuesday night, 6:40 p.m., and fortunately it had been clear, sunny and dry all day. I was standing up on the wall around our...
To learn, to lead, to serve
The full version of our Vision Statement is:
To learn, to lead, to serve;
discovering the promise in our selves and the world.
I dwelled on...
Selves
Selves. A thought-provoking word, when you see it on its own. Or, by extension, “self”. A parent asked me about that last night.
The...
Vision
Many of us will be on flights during the March break. Boarders are returning home, families are off on holiday a few groups of...
Peregrinations
I am writing this from Seattle, where we had our alumni reception last night. It was hosted by Chris Collins, alumnus of the class...
A place for us…
I couldn’t resist this phrase from West Side Story, performed this week by our Senior School students at the McPherson Theatre. On Wednesday night...
Musicals
Today at lunch I sat with Douglas Manson-Blair and Ian Farish, the directors of the Middle School musical, The King of Elfland’s Daughter (Douglas...
Chef Robert
I have had a couple of queries: so yes, the Valentine’s dinner went very well, and the recipe I followed, with a few minor...
Valentine
Despite its murky beginnings (the identity of the original St. Valentine is entirely lost in the mists of time; the association of February 14...
Vancouver (again)
I have come to like Vancouver over the years. This implies that it took a while, which is true. The scenery is superb; everyone...
New Westminster
A couple of decades ago I read a book called The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. The central character had to travel frequently for...
Hasta la vista
Hasta la vista.
When we say good-bye to someone, it is rarely good-bye for good. At least this is most often the case, in...
Flu Season
A brisk wind is blowing the flags on the quad straight out, toward the main field, which means the wind is coming from the...
Continual beginnings
First of all, the choice of the word “continual” is deliberate: when I was a student at university, and later a teacher of English,...
Silver Linings
One of the important and fulfilling aspects of my work is to connect with alumni. In Seattle, as I have mentioned in a past...
Snow days
A few readers of this blog in much warmer climates will be happy to experience it vicariously, through the reports of others.
To the chagrin...
