News Stories

Chantelle Trainor-Matties, an Indigenous artist, has once again graced John Maclure Community School with her extraordinary talent. After completing the captivating thunderbird mural on the school’s exterior in 2022, Trainor-Matties has embarked on a new artistic endeavour to adorn the interior front entrance with a unique Indigenous-themed mural. This vibrant artwork aims to infuse the space with additional colour and warmly welcome all who enter John Maclure.

It’s a unique melding of experiences and it’s created several atypical pieces of art.

The Abbotsford Senior Secondary School Art Activism class has taken on a heavy topic for the final project for 2023 – the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Canadian Criminal Justice System – and they’ve gone directly to the source for inspiration and a helping hand.

The class has collaborated with the University of British Columbia and Corrections Canada to showcase their work to the community, which is on display at The Reach Gallery Museum until June 25.

In a heartwarming collaboration that brought together the love of reading and creativity, King Traditional Elementary and Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts (ASIA) - Sumas Mountain joined forces to promote literacy-focused goals, spark creativity and foster a passion for books among young students. This initiative showcased the power of collaboration and sparked the imaginations of grade one and secondary students in a remarkable way.

Christine Abbot, Principal of Colleen and Gordie Howe Middle and Julie Wilms, a teacher at Abbotsford Traditional School, were honoured with the Restorative Peaceful Schools Award at the May Annual General Meeting organized by the Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association. The event recognized Abbot and Wilms’ exceptional commitment to creating respectful and safe educational environments.

A $269 million-dollar balanced budget for the 2023-2024 school year was unanimously passed by the Abbotsford Board of Education on Tuesday evening, at their last public Board meeting for the current school year.

The entire student population of Clearbrook elementary poured into the hallways recently to watch an amazing feat of community service — and physics.

The Grade 5 students had gathered more than 600 boxes of breakfast cereal from the community, and meticulously lined them up like dominoes. The line stretched from one end of the school, down a small set of stairs, around a corner, where it branched off to travel down two more hallways.

The Abbotsford School District celebrated the 2023 retirees with a retirement dinner held on June 7, 2023, at the Clarion Hotel. The event marked an opportunity to recognize the significant contributions and unwavering dedication of the retiring Superintendent, Operations Management, Administrators, Teachers, and Support staff who have devoted their careers to shaping young minds.

When Pakistani human rights activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on a bus by a Taliban gunman in 2012 for refusing to stop attending class, the world reacted in horror and change was sparked.

A decade later, the echos of that bullet and her painstaking work are still being felt and have inspired a group of students at Robert Bateman Secondary School’s Art Activism class to express themselves through creativity and art.

The Abbotsford School District has entered its successful second year with the Paddle Project, a unique initiative developed under the guidance of the school district’s Indigenous Education Council. This collaborative venture aims to honour and celebrate significant transitional moments in a student’s education journey, particularly as they advance into secondary school.

Rachna Singh, Minister of Education and Child Care, has issued the following statement to mark Pride 2023 and celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in B.C.'s education system:
"The month of June is a time for all in K-12 education throughout B.C. to hear more about Pride month, recognize and celebrate the contributions of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and learn more about the significance and origins of events that started out of protest, like the Pride parade.