The fondest school memories aren’t assignment grades or test scores. It’s the teacher turned mentor who inspires a career. It’s the lifelong friendships students develop with classmates. It’s the early morning sports practices, or the extended after-school meetings planning a club event.
It’s also the intangible skills students learn and carry into young adulthood—embracing curiosity, questioning and thinking critically or considering different perspectives.
Students at Stratford Hall experience just that, and so much more.
The Stratford Hall philosophy: Curiosity, integrity and belonging
As a mid-sized independent school in East Vancouver offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme from kindergarten to grade 12, Stratford Hall nurtures academic education alongside social and emotional wellbeing.
“Stratford Hall is a place where students get to exercise their creativity, their curiosity and develop their critical thinking to understand the world both immediately around them and further afield,” says Richard Kassissieh, head of school at Stratford Hall.
As the first school in Western Canada to be authorized for the Primary Years Programme, Stratford Hall’s educational philosophy remains deeply connected to the IB framework. This philosophy combines intellectual challenge with inquiry, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, service and reflection on one’s learning.
“The IB philosophy really does, in today’s age, prepare students for today’s unpredictable reality,” says Kassissieh. “It connects what they’re doing in the classroom to the real world.” Students are empowered to actively construct their worldview, fostering adaptability, resilience and resourcefulness for an evolving future.
As part of the IB curriculum, students are encouraged to apply their studies in service-learning projects. Much of this service goes back into the East Vancouver community. Students have worked with Immigration Services Society of BC, local seniors’ homes and Stratford Hall’s partner elementary school, Queen Alexandra.
“We’re able to extend the curriculum and extend the virtues of the IB philosophy directly into our community and take students there to experience it,” says Alison Wall, director of enrolment management at Stratford Hall. “Our aim is to prepare students to become empathetic, responsible and engaged global citizens.”
Students are supported to find their place at Stratford Hall, whether it’s on the field in athletics, on stage in the performing arts or finding the appropriate level of challenge in Outdoor Experiential Education.
Students also participate in numerous off-campus learning experiences at nearby Clark Park, such as outdoor ecological studies classes and local history walking tours. The school has contributed to public infrastructure improvement projects at the park, including installing a playground to benefit everyone. “We really do see ourselves not just in the community, but part of the community,” adds Kassissieh.
Diversity and belonging
Thanks to Stratford Hall’s small class sizes, staff make a conscious effort to ensure every child is seen, valued and receives an enriched educational experience. Across the junior and senior schools, a team of full-time counsellors and learning strategists are committed to supporting student success.
“We are a diverse community, and we’re here to ensure that students’ needs are met so they can be successful,” Wall says. Stratford Hall’s student body represents 34 languages, and the school also aims to celebrate holidays such as Lunar New Year and Vaisakhi, holidays that are important to the demographic of the school’s community.
New opportunities
Stratford Hall has exciting plans for future growth.
Starting in grades 6, 7 and 8, Stratford Hall is admitting more students as an incremental expansion of its senior school—up to 60 students per grade—while maintaining the junior school’s current cohort size of 40 students per grade.
“For 25 years, we’ve had the same size grade at senior school as junior school,” explains Kassissieh. “Now we’re growing our senior school by adding 20 students when we move from grade 5 to grade 6.”
While Stratford Hall will enrol more students per grade, the school will add a section to each grade so that class sizes become smaller, and teachers can devote more individual attention to each student.
The campus located on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive will also be developed to accommodate this new expansion, including classrooms with specialized facilities for senior students and a new home for the Primary Years Programme.
“Having between 40 and 60 students per grade is a sweet spot that allows us to diversify our course offerings while still being able to maintain that personalized attention that comes with knowing the whole grade,” he says.
This growth allows the school to offer more options to students, including electives and enriched athletics, while also diversifying the student body even further.
At the same time, Stratford Hall is also diversifying its graduation pathways in its senior school. “We will always continue to have the IB Diploma Programme as one option, but we are also providing options for students who wish to design their own graduation pathway,” says Kassissieh. All students will earn the B.C. Dogwood diploma, but now they will have a menu of choices to customize their programs, whether it’s taking a few IB courses or pursuing the complete IB diploma.
“Students and families seek out Stratford Hall because they want to find that place where the student will thrive and graduate prepared to navigate this complex world,” says Kassissieh.
Learn more about Stratford Hall and the IB programme at stratfordhall.ca.
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