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Candlelight Assemblies

Junior Candlelight Service

The Junior School held its traditional candlelight service on Monday, December 16. This annual celebration of songs and readings is led by our Grade 6 and 7 students and includes the lighting of candles for faith, hope, love, and peace. 

Students in Grades 1-3 brought a toy or gift and placed it under the tree at the beginning of the service. These gifts are used year-round for children and youth who are in the care of social workers at the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Students in Grades 4 to 7 and York House staff filled ‘hampers’ with much-needed items, such as clothing and grocery gift cards, for families who get support from Family Services of Greater Vancouver. 

The donations were delivered by our Grade 7 House Leaders and Junior School Head and Vice Head Girl. Together the Junior School filled hampers for nine families and donated 12 large garbage bags full of toys. Both organizations extend their “deepest gratitude to York House for the generous donations.”

Thank you to everyone who participated in this York House School annual holiday tradition of giving to others in need. This assembly truly reminds us what this time of year is really all about.

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Senior Candlelight Service

On Tuesday, December 10, the Senior School held its traditional candlelight service. This assembly is a long-standing tradition at York House, where we come together as a community, and in the spirit of the season, take time to reflect on what is important. Through various readings, musical performances, and the lighting of four advent candles in honour of peace, joy, love, and hope, we were reminded of all that we have to be thankful for. Mr. Rosen shared a personal story, Mme Rousseau reflected on peace, Mrs. Rodrigues spoke about hope, Ms. O’Connor spoke about love, and Ms. McDonald invited four Junior School students to share what brings joy to their lives. Our flute and clarinet ensemble played traditional carols throughout. Our Poet Laureate, Sophie (Grade 11), shared a poem, Ragazza performed “One”, and to close, everyone joined in for “One Voice”.

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Candlelight Assemblies

JUNIOR CANDLELIGHT ASSEMBLY

The Junior School held their traditional Candlelight Assembly on Thursday, December 6. This annual celebration of songs and readings is led by our Grade 7 students and includes the lighting of candles for faith, hope, love, and peace. The assembly reminds us what this time of year is really all about.

York House supports the Family Services of Greater Vancouver, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families and children in need, and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.


Students in Grades 1-3 brought a toy or gift for a child or teenager which is placed under the tree at the beginning of the service. These gifts are used year-round for children who are in their Emergency Care Program. Students in Grades 4 to 7 (and staff) contributed to the Holiday Hamper Project where each class was assigned a family in need.

The donations were delivered by our Grade 7 House Leaders and Head and Vice Head Girl. Together the Junior School filled hampers for nine families with much-needed items and gift cards, and filled 12 large garbage bags full of toys for kids in need to make some families’ holiday season much brighter. Your contributions will make a difference and bring a little joy to those who are less fortunate in the true spirit of our motto, “Not For Ourselves Alone.”

Thank you to everyone who participated in this York House School annual holiday tradition of giving to others in need.

SENIOR CANDLELIGHT ASSEMBLY

On Tuesday, December 11, the Senior School held their traditional candlelight ceremony in honour of peace, joy, love, and hope.

Through various readings, musical performances by our vocal ensembles, and the lighting of four candles, we were reminded of all that we have to be thankful for. We were also reminded that there are many holidays celebrated at this time of year: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, and Pancha Ganapati to name a few. Students were asked to think about the ‘true meaning’ of the holidays to them. Whether they think of this time from a religious or secular perspective or simply a break from the day to day, students were encouraged to remind themselves that the holidays can hold whatever meaning they each would like to give to this time.

We had the most incredible music performances during this assembly. Thank you to Chorista and Ragazza who performed “Do They Know it’s Christmas”; to Stephanie who played “ What Child is this?” on French horn, and to Skye and Keira singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. Ragazza closed the assembly with a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine”.

A special thank you goes to our strings ensemble of Ms. Black, Dr. Lesk, Ms. Robin, Megan, and Phoebe who played music to set the mood as students and staff came in silence to our assembly.

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