Please see some recent media stories, featuring HWDSB students, staff, schools, and more.
Students participate in HWDSB Speaks Festival
By Eric Vienneau (CHCH News) – April 12, 2024
Local kids put their speaking skills to the test today in the Annual Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) Speaks Festival. Ten students from grades four to eight independently researched wrote and presented a speech in front of their school.
CHCH Reporter Eric Vienneau was invited to Helen Detwiler Elementary School to participate as a judge in the competition.
HWDSB announces plans for new elementary school in Waterdown
By CHCH News – April 12, 2024
The Hamilton Wentworth District School Board has received $31.2 million in funding from the government of Ontario to build a new elementary school in the Waterdown area.
The Waterdown Bay Elementary School will be located at Skinner Road East and Great Falls Boulevard in Waterdown. The plan is expected to create almost 700 new spots for students and almost 200 spaces for licensed daycare for the Hamilton area.
The addition to Mount Hope is scheduled to open by Feb. 2027, while the new elementary school has an estimated completion date for the 2027-2028 school year.
MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook Donna Skelly made the announcement Friday in the company of Education Minister Stephen Lecce.
Hamilton’s Prom Project offers formal wear to students free-of-charge
By CHCH News – April 15, 2024
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) hosted its annual Prom Project on Saturday, a free-of-charge program that looks to pair students with formal wear for upcoming proms and graduations.
The pop-up shop event was supported by the Hamilton Foundation for Student Success and took place at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in Hamilton.
Students who stopped by got some help choosing their special outfits from a team of dedicated volunteer personal shoppers, giving them a great experience and ensuring that their choice was a perfect fit.
Hamilton student leads campaign to ‘Bring Back Breakfast’ amid nutrition program clawbacks and cancellations
Westdale Secondary School is one of several local schools forced to shrink its nutrition programs
By Kate McCullough (The Hamilton Spectator) – April 25, 2024
A Hamilton teen is campaigning to “Bring Back Breakfast” after a nutrition program at her high school was cancelled.
Her peers at Westdale Secondary School used to come to their 8 a.m. first period with yogurt, fruit and baked goods, said Tomi Olagunju. But this semester most are arriving empty-handed.
“It was very disheartening for me because I’d seen the impact it’s had for many of my friends and classmates,” the 15-year-old said.
Demand for food-based programs at Hamilton schools has soared in the wake of the pandemic, coinciding with an sharp increase in cost of living. Yet, several programs have shrunk this year amid funding challenges.
‘The kids are happier’: Car-free zone at Hamilton school gets high marks from parents
The ‘school street’ outside Strathcona elementary aims to reduce traffic and improve air quality.
By Kate McCullough (The Hamilton Spectator) – April 30, 2024
Scooters, sidewalk chalk and laughter have replaced idling cars outside a central Hamilton elementary school.
Since the beginning of April, the city has closed a stretch of Lamoreaux Street in front of Strathcona Elementary School on weekday mornings to make commutes safer and encourage active transportation.
It’s called a “school street,” and it’s Hamilton’s first.
Making math add up for struggling Hamilton students
Nearly half of the city’s public schools are getting extra math support; But will it equal success?
By Kate McCullough (The Hamilton Spectator) – May 6, 2024
Math is loud now.
Laughter and conversation have replaced the silent scratching of pencils often associated with high school math as groups of Grade 9 students gather around whiteboards stationed in the Glendale Secondary School classroom, working out the slope of a line.
It’s louder still in a Grade 2/3 split at Cecil B. Stirling Elementary School, where students cycle through math stations — addition and subtraction with linked cubes, math games on tablets and a variation of “Go Fish” where the goal is to make 10 with the cards in your hand, the students explained.
With the help of ministry-mandated math facilitators, these Hamilton educators are trying to make math make sense to students.
Focus on Youth program offers Hamilton student summer jobs
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is accepting applications until the end of May for its Focus on Youth summer job program.
By Hamilton Spectator – May 8, 2024
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is accepting applications until the end of May for its Focus on Youth summer job program.
Open to public board students who are 16 to 21 years old as of July 2, the program provides 100 placements with community, non-profit and charitable organizations across Hamilton, the board announced on its website.
HWDSB Program of the Arts offered at Glendale Secondary School for students in Grade 9-12
By Emily Vukovic (CHCH News) – May 15, 2024
The Hamilton Wentworth District School Board‘s Programs of the Arts has been running at Glendale Secondary School for nine years now, educating just over 300 students from grade 9-12 in a multitude of different programs.
Their Audition-based Program of the Arts, which teaches dance, drama, and instrumental music is in rehearsals now for their production of ‘Newsies’. The musical is on stage at Glendale Secondary School from May 24th-May 31st.
Other programs include Strings, Media Arts, Popular Music, Production, Visual Arts and Vocal Music.
The Program of the Arts is open to students all over Hamilton and other cities and it is the only publicly funded audition-based arts program west of the GTA.
Emily Vukovic got to sit in on four different programs to learn more about the programs and the great experience it gives to students.
Math is loud now.