Shirley Elm (Vice Principal), Lizanne Chicanot (Principal), Aaron Buckham (Vice Principal)
Welcome back to school everybody! I hope that you have all had a healthy and restful summer and are excited about the year to come. I am looking forward to welcoming back all of our returning students and to meeting and getting to know all our grade 9's and new students.
This is a very exciting year. Firstly I would like to extend my warmest welcome to Ms. Shirley Elm who has been assigned to Parkland as an additional vice principal for the year. In addition to her responsibilities as a vice principal, Ms. Elm will be also be taking on the role of international advisor along with Mr. Choo. Parkland's student numbers are starting to increase so it is very helpful to have another administrator join the team.
Parkland has thriving academies (Sailing, Hockey, Judo), an exciting Marine program, dynamic Arts and Music opportunities, a growing speciality in computer technology, a wide number of Trade and Career offerings as well as a burgeoning sports and athletics program. We are particularly proud to be moving to our second year of candidacy as an International Baccalaureate World School. We have been fielding many enquiries about this program. Eighteen teachers have undergone IB teacher training, purchasing IB resources has begun and the Parkland IB website is currently being built. Our first cohort of students will be starting the IB Diploma program in September 2018. We are proud to be the only English speaking public school in the lower island that will be offering the IB program. Stay tuned for lots more information on this venture.
If you have any questions or your child needs support of any sort, please contact the office and we will be sure to help. And please make a point of marking Meet The Teacher night in your calendar (Thursday, Sept 14, 5:30-7:30). This will be followed by a PAC information meeting at 7:30 in the Learning Commons. All parents are invited and encouraged to attend. We want to stay connected with you and welcome your involvement in your son/daughter's education.
Your son/daughter would have received their timetables in late June. Parkland counsellors were available at that time to make any necessary timetable changes. Classes are quite full so timetable changes at this point will be difficult to make. Students will receive a copy of their timetables on their first day of school (see the front page of the website for the first week schedule for students). Please contact one of the counsellors (Mr. Gary Choo, Ms. Jackie Rioux) directly via email should you wish to request a meeting.
And lastly, to stay informed with what is happening at Parkland I suggest that you subscribe to Parkland forums. By doing so you will receive email notifications on Parkland events and news. If you haven't already, you can subscribe to our forums by going to the Parkland website and on the left hand side you will see a heading entitled "Forum Subscriptions". Click there and follow the prompts.
I hope to meet you all throughout the year--I like to get to know students and their families as much as possible.
Take care and here's to a great year to come!
Sincerely,
Lizanne Chicanot
Principal
Parkland Secondary School