"Excellence, Friendship and Respect" 

I am writing this Letter to Parents on Friday 8th August 2008, the long awaited day for the start of the Beijing Olympic Games.  In the background I can see on television that the spectacular Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Games are underway.  I was pleased to hear that the Olympic Values of "Excellence, Friendship and Respect" are being strongly promoted and hopefully enjoyed and adhered to.  These are certainly all values we espouse at Mulgrave.  However, in sharp contrast to Beijing, here at the school, things are very quiet with empty classrooms and not a student in sight!  But it is now time for us to get prepared for the opening of school in September by sending out our "Summer Package to Parents."  We hope that this will provide you with some of the details you need before everyone returns.  The web site will of course have more details and there you will find the Calendar for the coming school year.

Before we focus on September, I want to bring you up-to-date on some of the Mulgrave associated activities which have taken place in recent weeks.  If you have been following our web site, you will have seen the regular reports on our two outreach experiences this summer.  By all accounts, the 23 Grade 8 students and two teachers who went to China in late June had an amazing time.  No doubt this experience has given them a much better understanding of all that we are seeing in the media this month about the Olympics and China.  The group of senior students who went to Southern Africa with Mr. de Beer and Ms. Mitchell had a truly extraordinary itinerary in a very different part of the world where they saw for themselves first hand the devastation caused by HIV/ Aids in this part of Africa and of course also experienced the wonderful wildlife of the region.  I look forward to sharing more about these outreach experiences with you early in the new school year.  Here at the school, July saw an active and engaged campus as children attending the Mulgrave Summer Camp took over our facilities under the able direction of Mr. Martin Jones and his summer staff.  This year we again saw an increase in numbers and the musical finale on the last Friday of the Camp was clearly spectacular.  It is amazing how much can be achieved in so short a time!  Now in August, Mr. Tetiker and his staff have the facilities to themselves to implement a variety of summer projects and to spring clean the building from top-to-bottom.  I am assured that everything will be ready when we open our doors in September.

The school is full for the coming year with 750 students enrolled.  Our facilities will again be fully stretched to accommodate the demands of our many programmes and we are always looking for ways to improve and enhance the use of our existing space.  As we look to the future, the District of West Vancouver recently made public their official plan for the development of the land above the school in the Rodger's Creek Development Area. The Board and Administration have been following this process closely and continue to work with the District to secure the option to acquire more land and have it zoned for school use when the time is right. We will have to consider our options carefully in the coming months.

The new school year will see the implementation of our new Senior Management structure which was announced in the spring.  I am particularly pleased to have appointed Mr. Eddie de Beer as "Assistant Head of School" and Mrs. Stella Ablett the "Assistant Head/ Academics" to hold new responsibilities for the continuity of the whole programme at Mulgrave from Kindergarten through to Grade 12.  At the same time, I have been able to more clearly define the three Divisions of the school by appointing three Principals: Ms. Karyn Mitchell as Principal of the Junior School, Dr. Ted Spear as Principal of the Middle School and Mr. Michael Moore as Principal of the Senior School. You will find additional information regarding staff changes in the attached material.  Please feel free to contact the Office if you have any questions or concerns arising from the various documents attached.

Special  thanks must go at this time to the Front Office, Advancement and Finance staff for all their work over the summer and of course to Mr. Tetiker and the Maintenance crew.  So we are feeling well prepared and ready and look forward to welcoming everyone back on Opening Day.

Best wishes for the remaining weeks of your summer holidays.

       
Sincerely,

Tony Macoun
tmacoun@mulgrave.com