Brentwood Bay school set to open first indigenous outdoor classroom this month – Victoria News

Bayside Middle School’ learning space and peace garden dedicated to intercultural friendship

Sep 12th, 2017

A new outdoor classroom is almost complete at Bayside Middle School in Brentwood Bay — all that’s left is some planting and the putting up of a WSANEC First Nations carving and cedar peace pole.

A special ceremony will be held Thursday, Sept. 21 at the school to officially unveil the space. As it’s also United Nations’ International Peace Day, a cedar peace pole will be erected in a nearby peace garden. The pole has been fitted with plaques reading “May Peace Prevail on Earth,” inscribed in 12 different languages — all of which are spoken fluently by various students at Bayside — and including French, English and SENCOTEN, the indigenous language of the WSANEC people of the Saanich Peninsula. That language is taught at Bayside by teacher Ivy Seward.

Read More: https://www.vicnews.com/community/brentwood-bay-school-set-to-open-first-indigenous-outdoor-classroom-this-month/