News Stories

The conclusion of Grade 8 marks a significant milestone in a student's academic career as they look ahead to embark on a new chapter in their educational journey. This year, the Indigenous Education Department created The Paddle Project to honour a middle school student's transition into secondary school. While the project centers around the opportunity to share the teachings of the Stó:lō People, it also provides students with a meaningful and hands-on experience to reflect on their learning journey as they progress in life.

As we continue to celebrate National Indigenous History Month, we invite you to take part in a learning opportunity.

In 2018, Robert Bateman Secondary offered a unique Art Activism class, which empowered students to become leaders in their community through art. Every year students take on a different social issue and seek to make a difference and promote awareness through community art fundraising events.

The Abbotsford Board of Education regularly meets throughout the school year. Agendas and minutes from the public Board Meetings can be accessed through the District's Electronic School Board. Below is a summary of highlights from the meeting. 

*Please note, that there were audio and video issues for the entirety of this Livestream Board meeting.

Program recognizes youths’ academic potential and ‘resilience and resolve’

Three Grade 12 Abbotsford students have been named recipients of the Beedie Luminaries scholarship of up to $40,000.

Eun Sim and Navjot Garcha of W. J. Mouat Secondary and Nicole Rempel of Yale Secondary are among 157 recipients from 81 high schools in 30 communities across the province.

Participants in the New Beginnings parent program in Abbotsford held a tea on May 26 to thank the community partners who helped them graduate.

New Beginnings is a partnership among the Abbotsford school district, Bakerview Centre for Learning, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, and Archway Community Services.

Since the program began in 1990, more than 1,000 parents have graduated high school. There were eight graduates in this year’s class.

As the 2021-22 school year comes to a close, we are congratulating our retirees from the Abbotsford School District. This year, we will see 55 employees retire from our schools and district sites. They have served as teachers, maintenance staff, custodians, clerical, youth workers and principals. And each and every day, they have made a difference in the lives of our students.

Statistics released by the Office of the Correctional Investigator last December were sobering for those concerned with the over incarceration of Indigenous people.

Almost 50 per cent of all federally-sentenced women are Indigenous and the combined men and women proportion has now reached 32 per cent and appears to be climbing.

Terry Fox Elementary has secured a $10,000 Food Grant from the Breakfast Club of Canada that will go towards the school’s breakfast and snack program for the 2022-2023 school year. Since 1994, the Breakfast Club of Canada has been working with partners from all sectors to help children access a healthy breakfast each morning.

Vaisakhi is a time of giving, and a group of Abbotsford students were inspired by this year’s celebration to do something meaningful. Eugene Reimer middle school celebrated Vaisakhi on April 14 with a school dance, a dhol craft (a dhol is a two-sided drum popular in South Asia), and performances by the Eugene Reimer School band. Students had plenty to celebrate, as this was the first in-person celebration since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.

This week marks the first anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of over 215 children’s remains at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, where the former Kamloops Residential School was located. Since then, Indigenous investigations across the country have found evidence of more than 1,800 confirmed unmarked graves at former residential school sites, with thousands more anticipated to be discovered in the months and years ahead.