# St. Francis Xavier School, Vancouver

St. Francis Xavier School (a.k.a. S.F.X.) is an independent Catholic school of the Vancouver Archdiocese. S.F.X. was ranked number one in "Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools" by the Fraser Institute in the 2008 edition. The school is a dual-stream elementary school, established by St. Francis Xavier Parish in 1933, and it follows the policies and procedures recommended by the CISVA (Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese). The school enrolment consists of 440 students with a class size of approximately 28 students. St. Francis Xavier School offers education from kindergarten through to Grade 7. The school was originally located near Chinatown but is now located north of Mount Pleasant. The current principal is Anne Yam.

## Independent school status

St. Francis Xavier School is classified as a Group 1 school under British Columbia's Independent School Act. Schools in this category receive partial funding from the Ministry of Education. As of 2006 that consists of 50% of their local school districts per student operating grant based on full-time equivalent (FTE) student basis. Under the act, the school has the "freedom to approach the curriculum from their own perspectives." However, Group 1 schools must:
   "...employ BC certified teachers, have educational programs consistent with ministerial orders, provide a program that meets the learning outcomes of the British Columbia curriculum, meet various administrative requirements, maintain adequate educational facilities, and comply with municipal and regional district codes."
The school receives no funding for capital costs.

## Pastory

The Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from Pembroke, Ontario, founded St. Francis Xavier School in 1933. From a donation, a house and land was purchased at the corner of Georgia Street and Princess Avenue in Chinatown.
A kindergarten was opened in one of the rooms of the house. The first class consisted of 30 kindergarten students. The kindergarten was moved to another building across the street in 1934. The grade school started in 1938, housed in three rented classrooms on the third storey of a bank building situated at the corner of Main and East Pender Street in Vancouver. There were three grades in each classroom with a total enrolment of 30. In 1940, the first school building, located at the corner of East Georgia Street and Princess Avenue, was constructed to accommodate about 70 students.
Over the years, the school population had outgrown the school building to such an extent that more than half of the students had to be housed in various rented buildings. Another building was acquired on East Pender Street. The parish and school fundraised for 20 years to build a new school. The construction took two years to complete. In 2001, the school building at 428 Great Northern Way was completed. Operations began in September 2001. Adam Exner, OMI, Archbishop of Vancouver, blessed the new school on December 2, 2001. The school has 16 classrooms.

## Principals

19__–2001 : Ms. Therese Leung
2003–2009 : Ms. Brenda Krivuzoff
2009–2018: Mr. Brian Fader
2018-2019: Ms. Anne Yam
2019-2023: Mr. Brian Fader
Present: Ms. Anne Yam

## Uniform

All students are required to wear full uniform at all times excluding special occasions. Inside the school building, outerwear is not permitted to be worn over the uniform. The female uniform consists of a plaid kilt, Oxford white crested shirt, navy crested pullover, navy socks, and black shoes. The male uniform consists of twill navy pants, Oxford white crested shirt, navy crested pullover, navy socks, and black shoes. The P.E. uniform consists of shorts, T-shirt, and non-marking running shoes.

## Children Helping Children

In September 2004, a call for help was expressed to SFX school. Immediately, administration, teachers, and students offered to help in meeting that need. The need was to help homeless African children, the same ages as St. Francis Xavier students. The first of many, many Spirit Days for Amani (Peace in Swahili) took place that November. With ongoing support from SFX and other committed donors, the dream of building a home and school for the Amani children was realized. On April 28, 2007, the Amani children spent their first night in their new home in Moshi, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The Amani house grew in the number of children from 16 in 2001 to over 200 by 2007. In addition to providing a new home, the money from St. Francis Xavier School helped provide the children with physical rehabilitation, emotional counseling, and basic education.
St. Francis Xavier School also sells Fair Trade Certified Chocolates to help farmers get fair wages.

## Spirit Days

A theme is selected by the SFX Leadership group each month and the school population is invited to show their school spirit through their participation. Themes have included pajama day, crazy hair day and fall colors day. Students must donate $2.00 to participate, with all proceeds being donated to local and international charities.
In the last three years, the school has raised over $5,000 for our designated international charity, The Amani Children's Centre, in Tanzania Africa. This is a place where orphaned, abandoned and abused children are given refuge. Students have enjoyed learning about these children and seeing the difference that donations can make in their lives. To see these young people, please visit www.amanikids.org.

## Concerts

The school released their first CD project, SFX Forever, on December 15, 2004 at AMANI NOEL, a primary Christmas presentation. All profits from the CD went to support the Amani Centre.

### Messengers of Light Trilogy

In December 2006, the entire school performed in a completely original Christmas production.
For more information about the Messengers of Light III, go to: http://sfxschool.ca/pdf/bulletins/2009/bulletin_apr09.pdf

## Sports

Saint Francis Xavier has teams for the following sports:
* Soccer
* Volleyball
* Basketball
* Badminton
* Track and Field
* Cross Country Running
* Frisbee
* American Football

## Clubs

At SFX, they have many clubs to be a part of such as:
* Young Authors Club
* Prayer Group
* Craft Club
* Drawing Club
* Green Club
* Leadership Group (Grade 7s only)
* Social Justice Group (grades K–7)
* Library Club (grades 5–7)
* Yearbook (Grade 7s only)

## The Young Authors' Club and The Ninety-fives

During the 2007–2008 year, the Library Club came publicly to be, as it was an under-the-radar club before; a group of grade sevens, the grads of '08, including young girls and a boy, joined the Library Club. They first and foremost joined because they were looking for a way to complete their 20 hours of service to the community, being the school community or the real world. The service hours were a graduation requirement.
They had a united interest in books, and writing. The Library Club, that included shelving books, shelf reading, mending books, and others, evolved from just being a way to earn service hours but a place for young minds to explore, learn, and come to love writing. The Young Authors' Club was born; its job is to publish student work under a number of conditions. Thus, The Ninety-fives became one of the first in the YAC club, penning the book that would take many lunch hours, recess, and months to complete, with the careful eye of Ms. Fountain, one of the Librarians, checking and reading over their work, they were on their way.
Finally, finished as the last minutes of school ticked by, a book entitled, How to Survive Grade 7, a book about all the problems faced in the time frame of that year, how the Ninety-fives lived, survived, and how they gave advice to those facing problems. Now in high school, the Ninety-fives have greatly expanded and remained strong, extending help through social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and their own website, as well as a new book entitled "How to Survive Grade 8" which is yet to be published, so they can be there to help you when ever you need it. How one club can inspire a generation, who grew up with computers and iPods, to love writing, and reading books. It was a literary success.

## Events and performances

St. Francis Xavier runs a series of events throughout the year. Every two years from 2014 to 2018, the school's music teacher, Ms. Charmaine Harris, along with a backstage crew organized by Mr. Edward Dela Luna, ran a massive schoolwide production involving every student in the school. The performances would be held on the stage, selling out hundreds of fundraising tickets to parents seated in the transformed gym. Each grade level would perform a song, except for the grade 6 and 7 students; they would be cast into roles on stage, or working backstage running the set and lighting. Because the performances ran for several nights, the school ran two sets of cast members for the same roles, alternating each night.
In 2014, the school put on a production of Mulan. In 2016, the school performed Disney's The Little Mermaid, with the grades 3 - 5 performing as 'the ocean' and performing several songs. The final performance, before Ms. Harris's departure, was Aladdin in 2018.
In January 2018, the school hosted the relic of St. Francis Xavier. The 460 year old section of the arm was on a tour across Canada when it made a stop at the school for a special Wednesday mass, run by the grade 7 students. Several hundred people participated at the mass in veneration.
Every May, the school also runs a fundraising Bazaar on a Saturday. Inside the school gym, students from each class perform songs in a 'Singathon' throughout the day, while parents, alumni, and parish members gather for the auction market, food, and game stalls.

## Chinese Culture

The school has long had close ties to the Chinese community. The population of the school has often had a Chinese majority, leading the school to adopt daily Mandarin classes along with the provincial curriculum designated French classes. Thus, students experience the Mandarin language from kindergarten to grade 7. Additionally, the school offers an after school Chinese program from 3:30PM to 5PM. Students also learn about important Chinese cultural events, such as Mid-Autumn festival and Chinese New Year. Each year on Chinese New Year, intermediate students have calligraphy workshops with their Mandarin teacher, while all grades prepare performances for the Chinese New Year schoolwide event.

## Awards

Garfield Weston Awards for Excellence in Education:
* 2006– Academic Achievement in Excess of Expectations, Runner Up
* 2007– Academic Achievement in Excess of Expectations, School of Distinction
* 2008– Determination of Academic Achievement, 2nd Runner Up