10 Reasons to Choose West Vancouver
West Vancouver has the highest average income per household of any city in Canada. The city of West Vancouver has the most expensive homes in the Vancouver area.
West Vancouver has the lowest crime rate of any urban centre in Canada.
West Vancouver is a beautiful community situated between the mountains to our North and the ocean of English Bay to our South and we are just 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver.
West Vancouver will be a host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics with snowboarding and freestyle skiing events being held at Cypress Bowl Provincial Park in West Vancouver. As well, we are only 1 ½ hours from Whistler, BC, where most of the downhill ski events will be held.
West Vancouver students have scored the highest results in Grades 4, 7 and 10 in our Ministry of Education’s Foundation Skills Assessments that have been done for the past 5 years. Every year since the government began this testing program, West Vancouver students have had the highest scores in all three categories of the test – English reading and writing and Mathematics skills. In addition, our three secondary schools rank in the top 5% of the recently published Fraser Rankings of Academic Achievement of secondary school students. The report can be viewed at: http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/chapterfiles/70BCESC06RANK.pdf
West Vancouver has the highest percentage of students taking the academic university entrance courses of any school district in the Vancouver area. Over 80% of our graduates go on to postsecondary education. We have a 65% success rate of entry into the University of British Columbia – the 35th best university in the world by a recent rating of universities.
West Vancouver students earn the highest percentage of Provincial Government Scholarships of any school district in the province. In 2005, 24% of our grade 12 students won government scholarships. In 2004, 23% of our students won scholarships. The provincial average is 10% in most school districts.
West Vancouver has the highest Dogwood Completion Rate in the province and has had the highest rate for the past 9 years since the records were first kept. We graduate 90% of our students each year, including our international students. The provincial average is around 75%.
We have 17 beautiful schools – 14 Elementary Schools and 3 magnificent high schools. All schools have the most up to date technology and facilities of any schools in our province. We have a newly renovated Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts, a 500 seat theatre remodeling of our old theatre that was made possible by the generous gift of over $5 million to our school district for the reconstruction of this facility.
Our International Program was the first of its kind in Canada welcoming foreign students into our Canadian public schools. We have the most wonderful international program in the province with our own homestay program in one of the most beautiful and wealthiest communities in Canada. We have been welcoming students in our district since 1982 and since that time we have developed the best international program we believe in the province and maybe even the best program found anywhere in Canada.