Captain James Cook Elementary located on the the ancestral and unceded, lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh  Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) & səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation. With deep gratitude and respect, we are am honoured to be learning and unlearning as we work towards reconciliation.  

 At Cook, we “Take care of ourselves, take care of others and take care of this place.” The school is in the midst of decolonizing our practices. From community meetings taking place outside and in a circular fashion to a food security program that is overwhelmed with need, our literacy program has made huge strides with our reading rates and we celebrate student achievement and participation with a Hands Across the School initiative.  

 The Cook School community is made up of a diverse range of learners and families. There are students from a mix of socio-economic families. The community is comprised of a mixture of older and new single-family dwellings, moderate to high-priced rental units, and cooperative and subsidized housing projects. Many students speak multiple languages. At present there are over 34 home languages in our school community. Cook Elementary presently enrolls 462 students. We have 20 divisions and 7 Resource teachers who work part-time and full-time. There are also 21 Student Support Workers who support students with diverse needs.  

 Cook is a school with students that are proud of their community. Cook students are advocates for each other and are very supportive. There are great deal of need at our school: students who live in poverty, with special needs, trauma, a large refugee population and more. The Cook community is diverse, strong and beautiful. Our students create amazing projects within our school and out in the community. We have a very active student body that loves to make our community and the world better!  

 The school, which has been identified as meeting District vulnerability criteria, receives Community School Team (CST) Enhanced Services, which also provides a full-time Youth & Family Worker (YFW) as well as a large number of after-school Killarney CST (KCST) programming support. Through Enhanced Services, various grants and the KCST, Cook has been able to offer additional school programs such as a Weekly Grocery program, Lunch Program, District Literacy Teacher, five One-to-One Readers, Arts Umbrella, Lego, Games and Arts & Crafts, and Kidsafe.  

The school is also fortunate to have a thriving StrongStart Centre for families with children ages 0-5 that operates daily every morning at Cook. In addition, Cook practices The Early Intervention Model and Reading Recovery programming.  

 Learners are eager to participate in school life beyond the classroom. The engaged staff support several successful student initiatives including: Chess club, Uno club, Origami club, Art Club, multiple fundraisers and more have all been student created and run. We have highly attended sports teams: basketball, cross-country, volleyball and track and field. We also host Global Citizens, Gardening, the LEAD program, our Dance program, Library monitors, Playground Leaders, Student Leadership Committee, Buddy Classes, Daily Announcements, and much more. High participation in these areas tells us that students are eager for opportunities to be leaders in their community.