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EspañolBRANKSOME HALL
'Branksome Hall' is a Toronto private girls school for day and boarding students from kindergarten to graduating year. Founded in 1903, the school consists of 12 buildings, the oldest is the 150 year old building on Elm Avenue. The school is an International Baccalaureate World School. Branksome is located at Elm Ave. and Mt. Pleasant, one block north of Bloor St., in Rosedale, Toronto.
The school takes students from kindergarten to Grade 12 and bills itself as a prep school for post-secondary education. Branksome is seen as one of the most exclusive all-girls schools in Canada.
Setting
Branksome Hall is situated on 13 acres in Rosedale, one of Toronto's haute neighbourhoods. The campus contains a section of Carolinian forest with an outdoor classroom, four tennis courts, a large lower field used by teams and classes, two playgrounds, and a "quad", where senior students often relax and eat lunch during the warmer months. There are 10 buildings on the Branksome Hall campus: Sherbourne House, Sue Bett House, Read Acres, Ainslie House, MacNeill House, the Principal's Residence, the main building at #10 Elm, Buccleugh House, the Middle School Wing, and the Dean of Student's House. Facilities include a swimming pool, numerous computer labs, an extensive resource centre, four art studios, a state-of-the-art performing arts theatre, and two gyms, one a double gym that may be divided. A new rock climbing wall will be a new addition in the gym by May. It will be accessible by all students.
Uniform
The most basic and formal uniform (also known as #1 Dress) consists of an ivory-coloured blouse, a tie, and a kilt.
Ties
There are four ties in Branksome. The most basic one is a tie featuring the same plaid as the kilt. The second one is a navy blue tie with yellow stripes, which is for the grade 10 clan chieftains and grade 8 clan reps. The third one is a green tie with patterns, and is for Heads of Clubs and Societies. The forth one is a red plaid tie for girls in the Graduating Year.
Kilt
There are two kilts in Branksome. Most of the students wear the kilt with a Scottish plaid, which is green. Prefects, however, wear kilts that are red plaid.
Blouses and Polo Shirts
There are long sleeve and short sleeve ivory blouses that students must wear for #1 Dress with a tie. However, students may choose to wear long sleeve or short sleeve polo shirts on a normal school day when #1 Dress is not necessary.
Blazers and Sweaters
There are two kinds of blazer: a green one for all the students, while prefects wear a red one. On non-#1 Dress days, students may choose to wear a zip-up green sweatshirt, a green wool sweater or the red gym sweatshirts that say "Branksome Athletics"
Gym Uniform
There are different team uniforms for all the sport teams, and all of them are green. During gym class, students usually wear white T-shirt with the school crest, a pair of green shorts that says "Branksome Athletics", or a pair of black sweatpants. During some team games like badminton and tennis, students must wear a "Branksome Athletes" polo shirt, Branksome shorts, and the red athletic sweaters.
Prefects
12 Prefects are elected each year to lead the school and ensure that the student body is represented. Prefects wear a distinctive red kilt and red blazer; unlike the solid green blazer which forms part of the UCC uniform, the Prefect's Blazer is red. They, like the rest of the Graduating Class, also wear the red tie.
There are 12 Prefects in Branksome for the 2007/2008 school year:
★ Head Girl
★ Admissions
★ Arts
★ Beta Kappa (Social)
★ Clans
★ Clubs and Societies/ IB CAS
★ Community Service
★ Junior School
★ Middle Division
★ Residence
★ Senior School
★ Sports Captain
There used to be 16 prefects, but some positions were taken away as the years progress. In the 2006/2007 school year, the assemblies and community outreach positions were taken away.
Extracurricular Activities
Clubs
Clubs is a very important part of life in Branksome Hall. In the 07/08 school year, there are 39 clubs, with about 80 heads.
Some of the clubs allow Branksome students to meet people from other schools in Canada, Toronto, and even other countries. The school is also represented at conventions such as the International Model United Nations in The Hague, SSUNS in McGill, World Affairs Conference, SOMA held by University of Toronto, and possibly the Ontario Model Parliament this coming school year. The Debating program in Branksome participates in numerous public speaking and debating tournaments, Canada-wide and international. Branksome Hall is a member of the Fulford League, a group of independent schools that compete in several tournaments each year to achieve the Fulford Cup at the end of the year. Branksome Hall was the first all-girls school to win this cup. There are scientific clubs like Forensics, Robotics and Science Enrichment. There are hobby-oriented clubs like Classics Club, Culimary Society, Dance Crew,DECA, Duke of Edinburgh awards, GAIA (the environmental club), Gay Straight Alliance and the IB Student League of Ontario. Lastly, there are also language and culture oriented clubs like the French Club (Cafe Francaise), Japanese Culture Club, Multicultural Society and Spanish Club.
Peer Support
There are approximately 40 grade 10-12 students in Branksome Hall that act as mentors and "peer supporters" for the school community. This small group tackle issues like drugs and alcohol, body images and social bullying - problems that often happen in a typical all girls' school. Potential Peer Supporters have to apply and go through an interview with a guidance councellor and a current Peer Supporter in order to become a real Peer Supporter. In order for students to approach them, peer supporters have a yellow patch in the bottom left corner of their kilt.
Arts
Drama, visual arts, and music are also important to the Branksome community, with several productions put on by both the drama students and other groups throughout the year. Celebrations of art such as Collage and Paper Magnolia happen regularly. The multicultural music, drama and reading show, Infusion, is held every two years. Students' prodigious literary and visual arts creations are celebrated through art shows and several publications including the annual collection ''Perennial'', and the school papers ''The Kilt Press'' and the annual "Slogan" (yearbook).
Music
Every year the music students and band members put on several concerts to show off their own distinct styles and tastes. There are many different music groups in Branksome:
Choirs
★ 7/8 Singers
★ Senior Choir
★ Chamber Choir
★ Jazz Choir
Strings
★ Chamber Strings
★ Strings Orchestra
Bands
★ Concert Band
★ Stage Band
★ Senior Band
★ Woodwind Ensemble
The heads of music groups are all part of the Music Council by default, along with the music department teachers.
Sport Teams
Because of the CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) component of each student, sports teams continue to thrive in Branksome. We have many sports teams in each season:
Fall
★ Basketball
★ Swimming
★ Rowing
★ Soccer
★ Field hockey
Winter
★ Badminton
★ Volleyball
★ Synchronized Swimming
★ Winter Swim Team
★ Rowing
★ Hockey
Spring
★ Rugby
★ Tennis
★ Rowing (regattas)
★ Softball
Clans
There are 8 clans in Branksome Hall senior school :
★ Scott (blue)
★ Ross (red)
★ Douglas (pink)
★ Campbell (purple)
★ MacGregor (yellow)
★ McAlpine (green)
★ MacLean (black)
★ McLeod (orange)
There are also 8 clans in the junior school:
★ Robertson
★ Duncan
★ Bruce
★ Johnston
★ Grant
★ MacDonald
★ Gordon
★ Fraser
Every clan has three leaders, a grade 12 chieftain, a grade 10 chieftain and a grade 8 rep. There are always competitions between clans, ranging from intramurals (dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, floor hockey...etc) to the Terry Fox fundrasiers. Chieftains host Clan Homerooms and Assemblies about once a month to keep the school updated on past and coming clan events. Students are usually encouraged to participate in clan activities, and it is a big part of Branksome's school life.
Other Community Activities
Branksome offers several "communities" within its main student body. Each student is assigned to an Advisor Group. This is a group of students that meet several times during the school's eight-day schedule, and usually consists of 8-10 students and an Advisor teacher. The students in each advisor group all belong to the same clan.
In addition to this each grade is encouraged to become a close community. Each year in May the school hosts a week of grade celebration called "Spirit Week". Normal class continues during this week but is punctuated by lunchtime activities such as tugs-of-war and grade banner painting. The most celebrated events of the week are the lipsync and cheer that occur on the final days. Each grade is assigned a colour, which is used as a way of expressing grade pride. The grade is given a colour in grade 7 and continues with that colour until they graduate, with new grade 7's inheriting the colour of the previous year's graduates. Colours for 2007-2008:
★ Grade 7 - Purple
★ Grade 8 - Blue
★ Grade 9 - Orange
★ Grade 10 - Yellow
★ Grade 11 - Red
★ Grade 12 - Pink
During each day of Spirit Week, students dress in a specific fun way. Traditionally Monday is Crazy Sock Day, followed by Crazy Tie day (Tuesday), Crazy Socks Day (Wednesday), Crazy Torso Day (Thursday) and then Friday is a "Grub Day" where students are free to wear whatever they choose so as long as it meets the dress code. Typically, each grade orders an item of "grade wear" and wears them on Friday.
In addition to grade pride, last year Branksome organized the "Walk for the World" as a grade event during Spirit Week. This was a walk around Rosedale to raise money for two outreach programs, the Queenstown GAP School in South Africa and the Sheila Bal Bavan Home for Girls in Jaipur, India.
Also, grade 8 and 9 students go to Outward Bound for outdoor camping. This helps them develop leadership skills.
Related
★ Upper Canada College
★ St. Andrew's College (Aurora, Ontario)
★ Crescent School
★ Havergal College
★ Bishop Strachan School
★ St. Michael's College School
External links
'Official Websites'
★ Branksome Hall Official website.
★ Branksome Hall Profile By TopPrivateSchools.ca
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