With deep gratitude and respect, we are honoured to be learning and unlearning on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). It is with respectful consideration that the programs and services are provided to students and families to honour cultural protocols of these communities.

Edith Cavell Elementary School is in Vancouver’s Douglas Park neighbourhood and serves around 330 Kindergarten to grade 7 students and approximately 40 staff members. Cavell was seismically upgraded between January 2021 and May 2023.

Our motto: ‘Cavell Cares: Take care of yourself; Take care of others; Take care of this place’ is clear amongst students. Kindergarten students state that Cavell students are kind, helpful and respectful people. Cavell students love our library to get books, and our gym is fun for playing skittles in. Kindergarten students also love the fact that they learn about the Seven Sacred Teachings. What do intermediate students enjoy about Cavell? The playground, the staff who care about them, the activities and field trips they get to do to enhance their learning, the musical instrument selection because they learn a lot about music and the many sports teams and leadership opportunities that help make them well rounded students.

We celebrate each other through our appreciation for diversity. Our current student population is spread across 14 divisions. Students who are learning English are integrated into our regular program with support from classroom and resource teaching staff. English language learners comprise approximately 17% of our population and speak a variety of home languages including Japanese, Dutch, Tagalog, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Serbian, Arabic, Italian, German, Swedish, Ukrainian, French, Czech, Portuguese, Armenian, Turkish, Croatian, Hindi, Vietnamese, Hebrew and Russian.

We are fortunate to have a dedicated parent community who actively contributes to the educational experiences at our school in a variety of ways. The Parent Advisory Council (PAC) organizes hot lunches 4-5 days a week, school events such as welcome back coffee, welcome back BBQ, pumpkin patch, school dances, movie nights, parent socials, walk-a-thon, silent auction, and a spring carnival event. Parents and guardians volunteer in class as well as within the school community serving on the PAC executive, organizing an event, or offering to coach a sports team. New ideas and members are always welcome at the monthly PAC meetings.

Staff, students, and parents work together to set high expectations in all areas of student learning. Goal setting meetings are an important way to set the direction for the collaborative journey ahead. Throughout the year there are many opportunities for our students to plan, direct and take responsibility for their learning.

We also provide experiences that showcase student learning including events such as Open Houses, Learning Celebrations, Learning Fairs, student voting, our Winter Concert, school wide projects and many more. We also

look for opportunities to extend our learning beyond the classroom walls with experiential learning. Our school is committed to implementing the First Peoples Principles of Learning.

Participation in a wide variety of athletic pursuits is also celebrated. Students are great athletes and appreciate the opportunity to play team sports. This year, students had many extracurricular opportunities including cross country, volleyball, basketball, badminton, ultimate, soccer, kilometre club, intramurals, and track and field.

Consistent with our motto, we encourage students to take care of others. The entire school is engaged in activities which encourage students to develop a broader sense of social responsibility and think about their place in the world. Some of these programs are at the classroom level, while others, such as Jump Rope for Heart, Kindness projects, community outreach, and the Terry Fox run are schoolwide.

In addition to the indoor learning opportunities, our long-term plan is to create additional outdoor learning spaces with gardening and exploration in mind. We are also fortunate to be near Douglas and Queen Elizabeth Parks.

Students at Cavell are responsible and appreciate leadership opportunities. They are eager to build school spirit, and with the support of the Cavell community, raise awareness of current issues such as climate change and anti-racism. Older students assist younger students with inclusion and fair play and partake in leadership opportunities for the benefit of the school community as primary and lunch monitors, library monitors, and classroom buddy activities.