On Monday, Urban Academy celebrated World Teachers’ Day! On this special day, it is a tradition for members of the Senior Leadership Team to take the morning and visit each classroom to share our appreciation for our incredible staff with a chocolate apple. It is an opportunity to take a moment in gratitude for the extraordinary passion, care, and dedication of our teaching staff.
While meaningful learning takes place every day in every classroom, it is often the extra experiences outside of the classroom that shape the student experience. Over the past two weeks alone, our school calendar has been filled to the brim with those ‘extras’, active, engaging, and memorable opportunities.
Teachers spend overnights, full days, extra evenings, and so much more of their time to bring student experiences to life. This week, a team of staff took Grade 6 and 7 students to Gibsons Farm Camp for overnight trips, stepping out of their comfort zones to build personal independence, resilience and outdoor memories. In our Senior School, students took learning directly into the community during the Impact ARC program at the Surrey Courthouse, stepping into real-world environments to gain insights into our justice system. Meanwhile, other students immersed themselves in creative production with hands-on technical theatre workshops alongside the RCTC at the Anvil Centre, discovering what it takes to bring production to life behind the scenes.
The spirit of Urban Academy has been just as alive on the athletic fields and trails. Our cross-country runners represented our school with pride at the ISEA Pumpkin Run at Ambleside, while student-athletes across all grades devoted countless focused hours to volleyball and soccer practices, playdays, and competition. A highlight was the Grade 7 girls clinching a coveted silver medal at the St. John’s Dig-It tournament in some fiercely competitive morning-till-evening games.
None of these extraordinary opportunities happen on their own. Overnight camps, stepping away from home and family responsibilities, coordinating detailed field trips like the courthouse visit, and devoting early mornings and late afternoons to athletic coaching all require immense effort and intentional planning behind the scenes.
These opportunities happen because our teachers genuinely care about investing in our students’ lives, sacrificing their own personal time and moments with their own families to ensure our students have access to a rich and well-rounded education. We hope you will join us in sharing our gratitude to our incredible teachers for their commitment, enthusiasm, energy and heart for each of our students.
Thank you, UA Teachers. We appreciate you!
UA Senior Leadership Team