Sentinel Secondary School

Sentinel Secondary School
Location
West Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
Coordinates 49°20′44″N 123°09′02″W / 49.34563°N 123.15046°W / 49.34563; -123.15046Coordinates: 49°20′44″N 123°09′02″W / 49.34563°N 123.15046°W / 49.34563; -123.15046
Information
School type Public
Motto Summis Cum Animis
(with the greatest possible spirit)
Founded 1962–63 school year (building opened in 1963)
School board 45
Superintendent Chris Kennedy
Principal Mr. Michael Finch
Grades 8–12
Enrollment 1250
Language English, French immersion
Colour(s) Navy and Silver
Mascot Spartan
Team name Spartans
Website http://westvancouverschools.ca/ecole-sentinel-secondary/
Last updated: 2011

Sentinel Secondary School is a secondary school located in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of three public secondary schools in the West Vancouver district (SD #45) including West Vancouver Secondary School and Rockridge Secondary School. The school has a grass field, two baseball diamonds, three street hockey courts, and three tennis courts. The main field is used for all sports, such as soccer, football, and rugby.

The school was established for the 1962–63 school year with students who had previously attended Hillside Secondary School. The first classes were held in the old Inglewood School until the new building was completed in 1963. The first grade 12 graduating class was in 1965.

Advanced Placement Program

Sentinel offers Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses, teaching material equivalent to university-level study. All of the courses require a strong comprehension of general knowledge and excellent work habits. It requires a powerful intellectual commitment to perseverance and solid, foundational work habits, and are regarded as more rigorous than the general and IB course offerings. Pre-AP courses are offered to students wishing to prepare for the full Advanced Placement offerings in their Senior School years. Sentinel offers AP classes in French, psychology, calculus, physics, biology, chemistry, language, literature, fine arts, and many more. Students in both grade 11 and 12 are allowed to enrol in AP courses.

Sentinel currently enrols around 1,250 students each year.

Premier Academies and Pursuit Programme

Sentinel is also home to various West Vancouver Schools Premier Academies which specialize in specific sports or activities including the Premier:

  • Animation Academy
  • Ballet Academy
  • Baseball Academy
  • Basketball Academy
  • Dance Academy
  • Environmental Science Academy
  • Fencing Academy
  • Field Hockey Academy
  • Hockey Academy
  • Mechatronics Robotics Academy
  • Outdoor Connections Academy
  • Rugby Academy
  • Soccer Academy
  • Table Tennis Academy
  • Tennis Academy
  • Volleyball Academy

The programs integrate training of the academy topic into the course-load - students spend 2 blocks out of 8 in their academy. They train in this activity the last block of every day. For example, the hockey academy members: are on ice three times per week, once they are in the classroom (learning theory of the sport/nutrition/other), and once at Twist Conditioning or the North Shore Winter Club.

Sentinel also offers the Pursuit Programme (formerly known as Super Achievers) which provides similar benefits for students participating in sports or certain activities at a provincial/national level which is not listed in the Premier Academies (e.g. acrobatics, ballet, rock climbing). In this program, students have the opportunity to take regular classes in the morning and focus on their area of specialization in the afternoon.

Arts Programmes

Sentinel has a diverse music programme which differentiates from that of other schools. It has a regular stage/jazz band typically for students grades 10–11, a classical orchestra which encompasses all grades, and a unique Rhythm and Blues band usually reserved for those in grades 11–12 by audition. The latter is a band that plays songs by artists such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and bands such as Tower of Power. Students learn songs by ear from the original recordings rather than from sheet music. This band not only plays for school events but also at many community events throughout the year. A number of videos of the Sentinel Rhythm and Blues Band are currently available on YouTube.[1]

Sentinel's theatre program, SentinelStage is recognized as one of the best school theatre programs in the North Shore.[2] While its theatre program continues to top the North Shore, its lack of performance talent after the graduation of its 2015 class, has been described by local media as "a disappointment".

Motto

The school motto, Summis Cum Animis, is Latin for "with the greatest possible spirit." It was proposed along with a new silver and blue shield logo, by the late Fred Robinson, longtime teacher of English and Latin, in 1988 to replace the original motto "Servo" ("I serve"), in part because the verb "servo, servire" has connotations of slavery. The former school colours were brown and white.

References

  1. ↑ Sentinel R&B - Down to the Bone on YouTube
  2. ↑ "About SentinelStage". SentinelStage Presents... 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
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