Westmount Charter School

Westmount Charter School is a charter school based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which educates gifted students from kindergarten to grade 12. It was founded in 1996 as ABC (Action for Bright Children) Charter Public School, a school for gifted children. The school started with 116 students, from grades one to three, and is now hosting a gifted student body of 990 in grades Kindergarten through 12. [ Welcome page information - http://www.westmountcharter.com ] The name was officially changed from ABC Charter School to Westmount Charter School in 2002.

*Westmount's first grade 12 graduation occurred in the spring of 2006.
*The school colors are gold and purple and a new logo was adopted in 2007.

Teams and Clubs

*Rugby union
*Cross-country running
*Track and field
*Badminton
*Volleyball
*Basketball
*Soccer
*Debate/Speech (Westmount Debate Society)
*Chess
*Golf
*Intramural sports: Floor Hockey, Basketball, Soccer.

*School Athletic teams are known as the "Westmount Wild", and the team colours are gold and purple.

Debate

Westmount has a history in debate medaling in the many tournaments, including regionals, and provincials. Westmount also had a very successful senior debate team, currently reigning champions of the North American Qualifiers, the Billington Cup, the Western Redman debate Open, and the Henry Wise Wood annual Worlds Style Tournament all at the regional level, and the University of British Columbia Open, and the North American Debate Championships at the National and International level.

Facilities

Westmount Charter School started out in 1996 with a small building in Bridgeland as their home. They have since progressed through a building in the old CFB Currie, and are currently located in the building that formerly housed Viscount Bennett High School, which they lease from the Calgary Board of Education, the public school board in the area. They currently share the building with [http://www.chinooklearningservices.com/ Chinook Learning Services.]

Band Program

Westmount's band program encompasses many styles and levels. Within concert band there are Beginner or Grade 5 level. The Junior, Intermediate and Senior levels all vary in grade level. It also offers numerous other music programs, those being String Orchestra, Choir, and two levels of Jazz Band. Unlike most other schools in the province, Westmount starts its Beginner band in Grade 5. Band is currently being taught by Graham Green and Wendy Mah. [http://www.westmountmusic.com]

Giftedness

Westmount Charter School defines giftedness in this way: "Students are gifted when they perform, or show potential for performing, remarkably high levels of accomplishment in learning rate, depth of knowledge, and reasoning and problem-solving abilities when compared to others of their age, experience, and environment." [Charter of Westmount Charter School - Found at http://www.westmountcharter.com/pdfs/charter_agreement.pdf]

Principals

*The founding Principal, Jo-Anne Koch, served from 1996-2002. She died due to cancer. The school library has since been dedicated to her memory.
*Magy Butterfield was acting Principal during the 2001-2002 school year.
*Elaine McDougall was Principal from 2002-2005.
*The current Principal, since 2005, is Martha Faulkner.

Vice Principals

*Marylyn Waters
*Hal Curties
*Dani Sever
*Chris Hooper

Superintendent

*Merv Kurtz

Secretary-Treasurer

*Megan O'Hara

See also

* Summerstock Conservatory - Drama Organization based out of Westmount

External links

* [http://www.westmountcharter.com/ Westmount Charter School website]
* [http://www.westmountmusic.com/ Westmount Music Association website]

References