Dear Parents,
I hope that you have all enjoyed a wonderful summer and I look forward to welcoming you and your daughters to another exciting year at York House School. My husband and I moved to Vancouver from Toronto at the end of July; we have enjoyed the warm and friendly nature of the people from this city. We feel blessed to be living in such a beautiful part of Canada. Having grown up on the east coast of Canada, I am already feeling at home and appreciating the familiar sounds of the seagulls. It is marvelous to be living near the ocean once again, as it gives me the opportunity to stroll along the seaside, take in the smell of the salt water and the view of the majestic mountains of British Columbia.
On August 5, I walked through the front doors of this incredible school as the new Head and was welcomed warmly by the staff and administrators. We have been busy getting to know one another, setting goals and priorities, and preparing for the coming academic year. The halls have been rather quiet for the past four weeks; we are looking forward to the return of our students and faculty. I, in particular, am looking forward to the feel of the school culture and getting to know all of you.
I am absolutely thrilled to be here and feel privileged to be working in an all-girls school that is deeply rooted in its history and values, and provides excellence in education with a focus on developing the whole child and preparing our girls to make a difference in their respective communities and achieve their goals and dreams.
The following is an update on staffing, which is almost completed. We welcome back Jerome Yeung, Library Technician, from a year’s leave of absence. As you are aware, Mary Keitel, Director of Personnel, retired from York House School at the end of June. We are pleased to announce that Heather Runje has been hired as our new Director of Human Resources. Please join me in welcoming Heather and the following new members of our school community:
Staff:
Jill Plotnikoff – Admissions Assistant
Senior School Faculty:
Christine Bernier – Resource
David Dallman – Education Technology
Ryan MacLennan – English Additional Language
Kevin McGuire – Science and Information Technology
Maria Moreno – Mathematics
Brian Napolitano – Counsellor
Junior School Faculty:
Erin Riendl – Grade 5
Cristina Vasak – Resource TA and After School Care
Elizabeth Winston – Resource TA
Amy Higgins – Intern
Megan Kwan ’09 – Intern
Carly Trinder – Intern
Little School Faculty:
Angela Kingerlee – French, TA and After School Care
Many of these teachers are replacing faculty that are currently on a one year leave of absence for maternity or personal reasons: Angel Bajgoric, Stephanie Keating, Charlene Brandt, Lorna Cheng Paul, Roslyn Viccars, Scott Abt, and Whitney Black.
Although it is always difficult to say goodbye to staff, we are delighted that Jennifer Harrison, Darren Jones, Michael Powell, Charmaine Roesler, Lynne Stanger and Sarah Szak have moved on to full time positions of their choice. Melissa Jorgensen left to stay home with her new baby. We wish them well in their future endeavours.
We are very proud of Kathy Kealey, Assistant Head of School who is currently representing Canada at the IDBF Club Crew World Championships in Ravenna, Italy. In August 2013, Kathy’s women’s dragon boat team qualified at the Canadian National Championships to be one of five dragon boat teams in their category to compete in this world championship. There are 132 Clubs and over 6000 participants from Australia, Canada, China, Czech Rep, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Macau, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovak Rep., Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, USA, competing in Ravenna. Kathy will be returning to Vancouver on Friday, September 9. We look forward to hearing about the team’s experience and results. We wish them well as they proudly represent our country.
Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year. I am very excited about the year ahead and hope you are as well.
Sincerely,
Chantal Gionet
Head of School