-
Sea Island School closes...and opens...and closes...and opens.
Sea Island School had been one of Richmond’s pioneer schools but closed in 1906. It resurrected itself in the 1920s as a school for local cannery workers but closed again after Canadians went to war with Japan in 1941. After the war, employees of the Boeing Company as well as returning veterans demanded an elementary school be established in the small community of Burkeville, and Sea Island Elementary School was opened in 1946. It is currently an annex of Brighouse serving K-3 students. -
Mitchell Elementary School opens
Mitchell Elementary School, which opened in 1908 is the longest continuously operating school within the Richmond School District. It opened as a one room school house, serving students from grades 1 to 8. The original school was replaced with the current modern structure in 1991. In 1926, the basement was deployed as a third classroom, but the dampness in the cellar led to an outbreak of pneumonococcis meningitis in 1928. Three out of four students who contracted it died. -
General Currie Elementary School opens
General Currie Elementary School opened in 1920. The original building was replaced in 1993 by a modern, one storey structure. The school is named after General Arthur Currie who led Canadian troops in the 2nd Battle of Ypres in WW1. -
Lord Byng Elementary opens
In 1922, Steveston School was renamed Lord Byng Elementary School. A 14-room school was built in 1930. In 1946, the school was damaged by fire, and students had to attend in shifts until it was rebuilt in 1948. In 1995, the school was replaced by a new modern facility on its No. 1 Road site. -
Richmond's First High School Opened
From 1927 to 1952, Richmond's first high school was located on Sexsmith Road and was known as Richmond High. In 1937 grades 8 and 9 were added and the name was changed to Richmond Junior-Senior High. In 1952 Richmond Senior High School was moved to its current location at Minoru and Granville and Cambie Junior High School remained at the old site. -
Hamilton Elementary School opens
Hamilton Elementary School was initially opened in 1934 at No. 9 Road and Westminster Highway. Prior to that the school had been called Trites Road School which was located at No. 7 Road and Westminster. The school was again relocated in 1959 and a new, modern facility was opened in October 1995. -
Garden City Elementary opens
Garden City Elementary School was opened in the same year as Grauer Elementary and built as an identical twin to its counterpart on Blundell Road. -
Grauer Elementary School opens
R.M. Grauer Elementary school was built to serve the farming community in Richmond's northwest sector, as well as the families of veterans who had returned from the war. The school was named after Rudolph Martin Grauer (1890-1972), who established a general store in 1914 on Sea Island at the junction of the middle and north arms of the Fraser River. -
Thompson Elementary Opens
In 1953, James Thompson Elementary School began as a two-room annex to Grauer Elementary School. It opened as a separate school in 1955, and in 1965 again became an annex, this time to Brighouse Elementary. Since 1967 however it has remained a school unto itself. The school is named after James Thompson who was a school trustee from 1908-1915. -
Cook Elementary Opened
WIlliam Cook opens its doors on Cook Road near Garden City. -
Blundell Elementary School Opened
Blundell Elementary School opens on Blundell Road between Gilbert and No. 2 Road. -
Tait Elementary opens
Opened in 1955, Robert J. Tait Elementary started out as an annex to Bridgeport Elementary School. Tait didn't become a school unto itself until 1979. Robert John Tait was a pioneer farmer in the area from 1895 until 1920. -
Kidd Elementary School opens
Thomas Kidd Elementary School opened as a two-room school on Shell Road near Steveston Highway in 1957. Kidd was involved in Richmond’s incorporation as a municipality in 1879. As well, he served as a municipal councillor in the 1880s and 1890s. He also was elected as M.L.A. for Richmond in 1894 and served until 1902. -
Whiteside (nee Mort) Elementary School opens
James Whiteside Elementary School was actually opened in 1955 as Mort Elementary but was severely damaged by fire in 1957. It was rebuilt and officially re-opened in 1958. James Whiteside was a pioneer farmer who moved from Ontario to Lulu Island in 1877. Upon re-opening in 1958 the school board changed the name of the school because in several languages the word mort is associated with death. -
Palmer School Opened
R.C. Palmer Junior Secondary opened its doors in September 1959 as a junior secondary school. It became an 8-12 secondary school in 1995 along with other junior secondary schools in Richmond. Pictured here is the namesake of the school who served as School Board Secretary, among other civic leadership roles. -
Alfred B. Dixon Elementary opens
Alfred Dixon was an early settler and pioneer farmer in west Richmond from 1895 to 1920. He served as municipal Councillor, school trustee, and dyking commissioner. The school bearing his name was initially opened as an annex to Lord Byng Elementary and in the early 1960s became an independent school unto itself. -
Errington Elementary School opens
Though completed in 1957, John T. Errington Elementary School did not officially open until 1959. John T. Errington was a pioneer farmer on Sea Island. He was one of the early petitioners for the incorporation of Richmond as a municipality. In 1881, 1883, and in 1890, he served as a municipal councillor. -
Gilmore Elementary School opens
James Gilmore Elementary School opened its doors in 1959 to serve the needs of Gilmore Park, a new subdivision on the west side of the island. James Gilmore (1864-1939) was a pioneer farmer. Born in County Down, Ireland, Gilmore moved to Richmond at the age of 20 in 1884. He served on the Richmond Police Commission from 1917 to 1928. -
Tomsett Elementary School opens
Tomsett Elementary School began as a four-room primary annex in 1959 and became a K to 7 school in 1988. Frederick Tomsett was born and raised in England and arrived in Richmond in 1911. He served ten years as municipal Councillor and became Reeve in 1929. -
Hugh Boyd Junior Secondary Opens
Named after the first mayor of Richmond, Hugh Boyd Secondary which now serves students in grades 8-12 was originally opened as a junior high serving grades 8-10. The school was extensively renovated in the mid 1990s to accomodate the switch to an 8-12 format. -
Ferris Elementary School opens
In 1960 W D Ferris Elementary opened up as an annex to Errington Elementary. It grew slowly and by 1979 was operating as a grade K-7 school serving the Sunnymede subdivision. William Douglas Ferris arrived in Richmond in 1866 and are generally acknowledged to be among the first European settlers to Lulu Island. -
Walter Lee Elementary opens
Walter Lee school opened its doors in 1960 as an annex to Whiteside Elementary School. becoming a school unto itself in 1967. Walter Lee (1826-1949) arrived in Richmond in 1874 from New Zealand, via the United States, having participated in the California Gold Rush. -
McKay Elementary School opens
Donald E. McKay Elementary began as an extension to Grauer Elementary in 1958 but by 1961 began to take on an identity of its own as a K-7 school. Donald McKay moved to Richmond in 1884 he was a farmer in the area, as well, he operated a general store and post office at London Landing from 1888 to 1904. -
Woodward Elementary School opens
Daniel Woodward Elementary School began as an annex to Thomas Kidd Elementary in 1961 in order to serve the developing Shellmont subdivision. By 1967, it had become a full-fledged elementary school. Daniel Woodward came to Lulu Island from Ontario in 1874 and established a residence at the south end of No. 5 Road, which became known as Woodward’s Landing. He enjoyed hunting and trapping and built a cabin in the vicinity. -
Hugh McRoberts Junior Secondary opens.
Hugh McRoberts Secondary School opened on November 30, 1962 and was converted into a full-fledged secondary school in the mid-1990s, with the first class of the new grade 8 - 12 program graduating in 1997. Hugh McRoberts Secondary has been officially renamed Ecole Secondaire Hugh McRoberts to reflect the flourishing French Immersion program at the school. -
Manoah Steves Elementary School opens
In 1964, Manoah Steves Elementary School began as an annex to Dixon Elementary. In 1975, it became an independent K to 7 school. Manoah Steves and his wife Martha left New Brunswick in 1868, moving first to Ontario and arrived in Richmond in 1877. Steves purchased 400 acres in SW Lulu Island and today the village of Steveston bears his name. -
Brighouse Elementary School Opened
Brighouse Elementary School is opened to serve the residents of Brighouse Estates. The school, which was rebuilt in time for the 2011/12 school year, is named after Samuel Brighouse who, after making money in the Cariboo Gold Rush settled in Richmond and puchased significant parcels of land. Much of his land encompassed the currrent down town core of the city. -
McKinney Elementary School opens
Starting as an annex to Lord Byng School, McKinney Elementary School was enlarged and became a full-fledged Kindergarten to Grade 7 elementary in 1974. James McKinney came to Lulu Island from Ontario in 1892. He purchased 200 acres of farmland near No. 2 Road and Steveston Highway, a place where, 72 years later, an elementary school would be given his name. -
Howard DeBeck Elementary Opens
In 1966 DeBeck Elementary, which had previously been an annex to Garden City School, opened it's doors. It was closed for a period of time due to low enrolment but reopened in 1988 for K-4 students. The current school was built in 1992 to enroll students in K-12. -
JN Burnett Opens
JN Burnett first opened its doors in September 1968 as a junior secondary school. The school is named after John Napier Burnett who was a prominent educator in the province throughout the middle part of the 20th century. In 1955 Mr. Burnett was named Superintendent of Schools for the Richmond School District. -
William Bridge Elementary opens
In 1969 William Bridge Elementary opened to serve the population of Broadmoor in South Richmond. Bridge added a French Immersion program in 2004 -
McNair Secondary Opened
Matthew McNair Senior Secondary School opened in 1972 as Richmond's third senior high school. The building wasn't complete in time, so the school year started with students attending school on "the late shift" at nearby Hugh McRoberts Junior Secondary. The namesake of the school is pictured here. -
Maple Lane Elementary opens
Maple Lane Elementary School was built to serve the residents of the new Maple Lane subdivision between No. 3 Road and Gilbert, and between Williams Road and Steveston Highway. -
Quilchena Elementary School opens
Quilchena Elementary School was built to take the load off of Gilmore Elementary. The name Quilchena comes from the Salish word meaning "flat place near water." The intent of the School Board was to recognize the fact that a First Nation’s settlement had been located near this site. -
Kingswood Elementary School opens
Kingswood Elementary School was built to serve the newly built Kingswood subdivision in the area between Shell and No. 5 Roads, in southeast Richmond. -
Westwind Elementary School opens
Westwind Elementary School was built to serve the newly created Westwind subdivision...hence its name. The Westwind development, abuts the village of Steveston. -
John Diefenbaker Elementary School Opens
John G. Diefenbaker was opened in 1981 to accomodate a burgeoning population in the south west corner of Richmond. -
RTA Becomes a Union
-
Learning Services Team Created
The first learning services team was created in 1986 and was comprised of Fay Brownlie, Carol-Lyn Sakata, Monica Pamer, Gina Rae, Steve Campbell, Donna Gilchrist, Arlene Racicot, Kit Grauer, Sheila Borman, Linda Kaser and Doug Super, and was joined very early on by Jane Hunter. Learning Services has since grown into a vital department overseeing ESL, Special Needs Students and Strong Start among other things. -
Period: to
Learning Services Comes of Age
Through the late 1980s and early 1990s the Learning Services Team (later to become the Learning Services Department or LSD) played a pivotal role in moving SD38 toward being one of the most inclusionary districts in the province. Using contemporary educational theory, such as Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences the LSD provided pro-d leadership throughout the district. -
Period: to
Inclusion Becomes the Norm
Between 1990 and 1995 inclusion of special needs students into "regular" classrooms moved from being "a nice thing to do if we can" to standard practice throughout the district whenever and wherever possible. This was done with the expert guidance of the Learning Services Department. Schools today are far richer for the being such inclusive places. The result is that today's students are far more empathetic and caring toward those with physical, emotional or intellelectual challenges. -
Tomekichi Homma Elementary Opens
1990 saw the opening of the first school in Richmond named after a Japanese settler to the area. Japanese immigration and culture is an integral part of Richmond's history, particularly in the Steveston Area. Tomekichi Homma immigrated to Richmond in 1883 and in 1897 he started the first Japanese daily newspaper, the Canada Shinpo. He was later interned during World War II and died in the Slocan Valley. -
McNeely Elementary School opens
Kathleen McNeely Elementary School was built to relieve the overcrowding at Mitchell School. Kathleen (Kate) McNeely began teaching in 1910 at the age of 19 at the English school on Steveston Highway. In 1913, she became principal at Bridgeport School, making her the first female principal in Richmond and quite possibly in all of British Columbia. -
Talmey Elementary School opens
R.C. Talmey Elementary School was built to serve the needs of the new Oaks subdivision near No. 4 and Cambie Roads.
The school was named after Dr. Richard Talmey, a well-respected family physician in Richmond. Dr. Talmey was one of the three founders of the Richmond General Hospital Society and the first Chief of Staff when the hospital opened in 1966. -
Wowk Elementary School opens
Jessie Wowk and her family emigrated from the Ukraine in 1906. They purchased a farm on Steveston Highway. Jessie was known as a humanitarian, and during the Depression she gave generously to those standing in the bread lines. The Richmond School Board asked for names of persons from the various ethnic communities, and hers was submitted by the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. -
Chris Kelly becomes Superintendent of Schools
Beginning in the summer of 1994 Chris Kelly becomes the Superintendent of Schools for SD38 replacing the retiring Jack Rantanen. Mr. Kelly joined SD38 from North Vancouver School District. His passion was education, his gift was explaining difficult concepts in terms that everyone could understand. Everyone will remember him as someone who listened and genuinely cared about what each and every stakeholder in the district had to say. -
New Cambie School Opened
Cambie Secondary School opened in current location on Jacombs Road. -
Junior/Senior High to 8-12 Model
In the 1995-96 school year the district began its transformation from a junior/senior model of high school to a model where grades 8-12 were offered at each of the 9 secondary schools. -
Period: to
Changing High School Formats
Over the two years 1995-1997 Richmond School District changed from a model based on junior high (grades 8-10) and senior high (grades 11 and 12) to an 8-12 model. Richmond went from having 6 junior and 3 senior high schools to having 9 grade 8-12 secondary schools. -
Anderson Elementary School Opened
Henry Anderson Elementary School opens on Alberta Road. Anderson has both English and French immersion streams. The school's namesake is pictured here. -
Blair Elementary Opened
Archibald Blair Elementary School opened to accomodate a growing population in the north west corner of Richmond. -
Robert McMath Secondary School Opened
Robert McMath Secondary School opened in the village of Steveston bringing the total number of secondary school in Richmond to 11. McMath is one of two French Immersion secondary school in Richmond. Bob McMath served on the Richmond School Board of Trustees in 1951 and from 1957 to 1993 served on Richmond's municipal council. -
Period: to
Differentiated Instruction Takes Hold
Differentiated instruction, though practiced in many classrooms by teachers for many years, became the expectation in all classrooms as we moved into the 21st century. Using tools such as Assessment for Learning, the modern classroom became far better at dealing with differences in students' learning. -
Spul'u'kwuks opens
In 2000 Spul'u'kwuks opened its doors to serve the burgeoning area of Terra Nova. The school's name translates from the language of the coast Salish to mean "a place of bubbling waters." In 2004 Spul'u'kwuks was the first school in Richmond to adopt a year round calendar. -
MacNeill Secondary School opens
A.R. MacNeill Secondary School opened in 2003. It was built on No. 4 Road near Westminster Highway to serve a projected growth in population in the area. Roy MacNeill was born in Port Arthur, Ontario, and moved with his family to British Columbia in 1910. He attended the UBC and was one of its first graduates from the Education Faculty in 1923. He began teaching English at Bridgeport School, and when Richmond Secondary was opened in 1928, he became its first principal. -
Bruce Beairsto becomes Superintendent of Schools
Replacing Chris Kelly, who left Richmond to become Superintendent in Vancouver, Bruce Beairsto is appointed Superintendent of Schools in Richmond. During his long career in Richmond Bruce became known for his sharp intellect and for being articulate enough to convey his cerebral meanderings. Bruce was deeeply involved with the growth and development of the Learning Services Team throughout the 1990s and was respected as a model of professional and pedagogical thinking and reflectiveness. -
New Richmond High Opened
The latest incarnation of Richmond's oldest secondary school is open for business! The new building was constructed on what were the playing fields behind the old school. -
SLSS Opened
Steveston Secondary School and Charles E. London Secondary School combined to form Steveston-London Secondary (SLSS). The combined school opened with a total enrolment of about 1350 students. -
Monica Pamer becomes Superintendent of Schools
Monica Pamer replaces Bruce Beairsto as Superintendent of Schools. Ms. Pamer has worked in in the district since 1975 and has served in many and varied roles, most recently as Associate Superintendent. -
BCedPlan
For the 2011-12 school year, the Ministry of Education introduced its Education Plan. Hallmarks of the plan include personalized learning, flexibility within the system and the effective implementation of educational technology. Details can be found here. -
Teacher Job Action
The BCTF, having been without a contract since June 2011, undertakes job action to pressure BCPSEA into negotiating a contract. Job action consists of teachers' refusal to undertake administrative tasks and culminates in a 3 day strike in March. However, negotiations stall due to conflicts between teacher demands and the governments "net zero" mandate. -
Second IB Program Added at Hugh Boyd
In September 2012 Hugh Boyd opened as the second school in Richmond offering an IB program. The Middle Years Program (MYP) offers students in grades 8-10 a middle school education with a modern, global perspective.
