Fiddler on the Roof!

This week culminated with the Senior School musical production of “Fiddler on the Roof” and Barnacle House was well represented: Kin Jivavatanasaki played one of the villagers and commented prior to the production run about how he was eagerly anticipating singing a song in Russian (Russian Tenor #6). Ethan Lin and Jason Zhang played masterfully as they provided the backbone to the pit orchestra. Last but not least, Steven Song, was one of the leads in the dual-casted musical, he played Tevye and was wonderful. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed during the production.

Saturday Activity – Squash

A small group of students decided to get some exercise during the blustery, cold Saturday afternoon by joining the squash Saturday activity. Although many of the students had little experience with playing games, they were keen to learn and had fun playing.

Justin Tam showed his prowess on the court with some good drives and boast shots.

It was great to see Jason So out there learning more about the different types of shots in the game.

Just under two hours later, everyone was feeling great and more energized!

Sunday – Getting Ready to Reset

Sunday started with cool weather and clouds but it did not stop the rowers from getting up early and onto the water in their boats for the regatta.

Others had a quiet start and signed out for walks with friends or to the local mall. The common space was busy for lunch with fried chicken and games, while the grade 8’s spent some time in the afternoon practicing origami.

Winslow and the Barnacle/Winslow community welcomed a new addition to the house this week.

And this week marks the final week of Term four so everyone is busy working to finish the term on a strong note. Even with so much to do, there were a few minutes for boarders to attend an office meeting with Betty.

Two weeks until Spring Break and the excitement is building!!

Staying warm and busy in the cold.

Barnacle House is buzzing at a steady rhythm as we race towards Spring Break. This week brought the coldest temperatures we’ve seen this year with many days and nights below zero degrees. Over the weekend we even received a few inches of snow, which a handful of excited Barnacle students had a blast playing in.

It’s a busy week with sports and extra curricular activities. Bravo to Hayden and the grade 9 boys basketball team for winning the Island championships. They advance to Provincials in Vancouver starting on Thursday. Several Barnacle students are busy with nightly rehearsals for the Fiddler in the Roof Musical Performance, which runs from Thursday to Saturday.

Enjoy some photos from Saturday activities and day to day life in Barnacle House.

February long weekend!

As students head out of campus to be with family and friends during the Family Day long weekend here in British Columbia, it’s worth taking a look back at some of the activities we have been up to and to look ahead at what is to come as spring draws nearer.

Last weekend we had another rousing edition of our Boarding House Games. This time the competitions were floor hockey in the gyms for some and cardio Pictionary and charades for others. To explain very quickly, cardio Pictionary or charades is a twist on those classic games where students need to run around campus to find the right houseparent who is holding their clue. Once they have their clue, the student needs to run back to their group and draw or act out the clue until the group guesses the correct answer.

Below are some photos of the floor hockey action:

This past week of school was another busy one with Term 4 classes kicking off at the Senior School. At the Middle School, there was a lot of hype around this year’s Science Fair. Students worked with a partner or on their own to present their findings of a question, hypothesis, and testing that they came up with. Our Grade 8 students represented Barnacle House well. It was a lot of work but certainly worth it in the end. Way to go Brenton, Jiahan, Emilio, Ryoji, and Jasper!

When the students return form the long weekend, we will be right back into the thick of things. There is a lot that goes on at the school between now and Spring Break. A few notables are:
– The school’s performance of “The Fiddler on the Roof.” The curtain goes up March 2nd and runs through to the 4th. This will feature Steven Song, Kin Jivavatanasak on stage along with Ethan Lin and Jason Zhang in the pit orchestra.
– Our school’s basketball teams will also be busy.
March 1 – 4 – Junior and Senior girls at basketball provincials.
March 8 – 11 – Junior and Senior boys at basketball provincials.

Enjoy the long weekend!

A week of activities and assessments

This past week saw our Grade 9 and 10 students get out and experience offerings from our Outdoor Education program. Some of the activities included: skiing and snowboarding at Mt. Washington, local hiking adventures, indoor rock climbing and even the opportunity to learn about food, plants and farming in a sustainable community at an Eco-Village.

While our Grade 9 and 10 students were off campus, it provided a very quiet environment for our Grade 11 and 12 students to work through end of term assessments and mock exams. Some even experienced writing exams in the single gym, similar to what might be experienced in a post secondary setting.

Now that last week’s unique schedule and assessment period is behind us, things return to a more familiar routine as we begin Term 4. While the intensity the end of term brings will settle in the academic sphere for the coming weeks our Basketball teams and the Senior School Musical begin their march, so to speak toward their conclusions in late February or early March which means lots of practice and sense of urgency on the horizon.

Yesterday, as usual, our students were involved in Saturday activities. Below are some images of coffee bean roasting, the group that went swimming at a local recreation centre, and soccer out on our field

Saturday Activities!

The students had a number of activities to choose from this week, including a Victoria Royals hockey game (Jason So and Hayden Keens), an IMAX film with some shopping downtown afterwards (Nick and Steven Yang, Jasper Chan, and Justin Tam), the movie Creed III (Kin Jivavatanasak, Emilio Huerta Zamora, Danny Nguyen, Cohen Labrecque, and Adam Hui), and also the Crafted Farmhouse Market pictured here (Ryoji Yamanaka, Brenton Hsu, and Alex Zhang) where everyone had a good time browsing local goods and homemade creations:

With the time change Saturday night, there will be more daylight in the afternoons. This Monday is also is the start of term 5 for the senior school students.

“Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times”.

Students this week in Barnacle House have been focused on preparing for AP exams, joining badminton clubs, and preparing for out trips up island to seek out more mountainous terrains. The end of the week has brought a buzz of activity with the grade 8 students skiing at Mt. Washington, finding sunshine and cutting fresh lines in the snow.

Closer to home, students spent the weekend celebrating Chinese New Year by eating dim sum in Chinatown and, at home, making dumplings to share.

It was a nice opportunity for everyone to sit together, share a pot of tea and a meal as we prepare to bring in the Year of the Rabbit and continue to hop our way through the remainder of the school year.

We wish everyone extra luck and a healthy, happy Lunar New Year and Spring Festival as we let go of the old and bring in the new.

New Year Fresh Start

Barnacle House is happy to see the return of students following the Holiday break. As the first week of school in term 3 wrapped up, we kicked off 2023 in Barnacle with an action packed weekend. House activity on Saturday where students built their own ice cream sundae, played board games and competed in a foosball tournament. The final game had a dramatic finish with Ethan and Danny beating Ricky and Joh’nell to take home the famed golden paddle award.

The weekend continued with more excitement with House Games taking place on Sunday. All boarding houses competed against each other in Badminton mini games and team building challenges. Barnacle students grabbed a handful of wins in both events, and most importantly, had lots of fun and worked well as a team.

As the busy weekend comes to a close students are now focused on getting a great start to their term 3 classes. Thanks for checking out the blog! We’ll update again soon.

And we’re back!

After a very long time and much frustration around ownership and passwords, the Barnacle Blog is live again!

It would be foolish to try to write anything that might encapsulate all that has happened since the beginning of the 2022/2023 school year so, it will be shared through the many images seen below.

Enjoy and please check in for more regular updates.

House Games:

Weekend Activities:

Chapel performance and Saturday Activities

There has been a variety of Saturday activities offered since students have returned from the winter break. Students have enjoyed trips to the museum, walks at local parks, arts and crafts, and more.

Barnacle student Ethan Lin performed in Chapel this past week, playing the violin beautifully in front of a group of his peers and teachers. Here is a link to his performance.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nRVnpdCSl3r68CPPLOBAohrzgfbr8VOq/view?usp=sharing

Student Performances and Rainy Day Activities

This week was filled with student performances and indoor activities to escape the rainy weather. Kin had a fantastic solo singing performance in chapel this week. You can watch the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BOJyK0wgYen-d4sAfxKvGf5EUFVi2111/view?usp=sharing  Steven performed in the play, 12 Angry Jurors. See a picture of Steven in action here: https://twitter.com/yourSMUS/status/1464640301675560961  Activities this week included a beach clean-up, cookies for charity, a hockey game, an escape room, and more.