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Summer School Evolution

For many, summer school used to be about making up a course or getting ahead to make room in your schedule. In Burnaby Schools, we still have those choices, but the difference now is we also have dozens of enrichment options with everything from Indigenous-inspired art activities and musical theatre to coding and engineering. The interest in the courses led to record registration, with 7400 students attending – nearly 800 more than in 2018.

Janice Nakatsu, Director of Instruction, who leads Summer Session:


Last year we dabbled with new enrichment courses, such as robotics and engineering and they were filled within minutes of registration opening. So this year we opened up the thinking around this to inspire grassroots options.”

After telling teachers that we were open to any and all suggestions, they pitched their own ideas that aligned with BC’s redesigned curriculum. As a result, a full 45% of our elementary course offerings were new in 2019 and about 20% of our secondary ones were new. Some of the courses are life skills, such as sewing, cooking and gardening.

Children and families are loving that they have the option to learn something new, while also having fun.

Watch the CBC news story

Read the CBC news story

Read the Burnaby Now news story

Read the article about our partnership with SFU on a filmmaking course

Registration for next year’s Summer Session begins in April 2020.

Learn more about course offerings for next year

Posted July 2019