We truly believe education

IS AN
ADVENTURE!

Kids were never meant to sit in desks all day. They were meant to explore, discover, build, question, and of course, play.

A typical classroom at ACS includes all those things. We don’t just learn about Africa—we create a desert biome and raise money for clean water. We don’t read a textbook about the history of Canada—we develop our own “Canada,” working in groups founding colonies, choosing a delegate, and negotiating policies for creating a country. Because that’s the way education was meant to be!

OUR FOCUS

PLAY-BASED LEARNING

At ACS, our elementary teachers incorporate play-based learning strategies into the school day to nurture children’s development through diverse types of play. Free play lets kids follow their interests and be creative. Inquiry-based play sparks curiosity and problem-solving. Collaborative play helps kids learn to work together and build social skills. Playful learning mixes fun with teaching, and learning games introduce specific skills in a more structured way. By blending these approaches, teachers create engaging learning experiences that support every child’s development.

NURTURING HEARTS

One of the things we do best is care about our students. We know that learning of any kind is best facilitated by confidence and encouragement, so we endeavour to build up each student through staff relationships. This happens in the classroom, on the field, and through real work for the real world: projects that get us working together to see God’s world made new.

“ACS has always been and continues to be a very safe and inviting place for our children to learn and grow into the unique and special people our God has created them to be!”

-ASHLEY J. (Mom of elementary and middle students)

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Art

A carefully developed program ensures that students from K-4 learn about the elements of art and principles of design in a variety of ways at age appropriate levels. Skills are developed through quality instruction, sometimes from online experts coordinated and facilitated by the classroom teacher; sometimes by exploring and developing techniques used by artists such as the Group of Seven or Picasso. 2-D and 3-D media such as clay, tempura paint, watercolour, oil pastels, paper collage, and more are experienced.

MUSIC

A trained music specialist provides a full program of singing, Orff instrumentation, reading music, percussion, composer studies, recorder playing, composition, and more. Monthly concert days provide opportunity for individual students to showcase musical talents being developed out of school. Each year, either an all school musical or a Christmas program is performed. Music classes also go out into the community to sing and play.

Athletics

Our elementary campus enjoys an active athletics program. We are especially proud of our cross country and track and field programs. Cross country runs in the fall and is open to all grade 4 students. We compete at a number of runs across the Lower Mainland where children learn to develop stamina and achieve their personal best. Track and field is also a highlight for our grade 4 students who practice the various events throughout the spring and then compete at a school wide meet. After this event, they compete at a larger meet against other Christian schools.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

An inclusive school seeks to support the learning of students who are learning the English language in their age-peer classes to the greatest extent possible. This goal is achieved through support in the classroom, a pull-out program during the school day to support the classroom curriculum learning, and an after-school program to develop and strengthen English language competencies.

French

French language instruction begins in grade 1 at 60 minutes/week and increases to 90 minutes/week starting in grade 4. Students learn basic vocabulary as it relates to common themes such as calendar, time, numbers, colours, pets, sports, and food.

Cultural studies are an additional component since language is an important aspect of culture. Some examples are; grade 1 students celebrate Carnaval de Quebec at the same time it takes place in Quebec each February. Grade 2 and 3 students follow the story of French-Canadian athletes as they prepare for the Olympics, integrating vocabulary and real-life interviews. Grade 4 students learn about writing instructions by creating a pizza recipe and then demonstrating making the pizza for their classmates. We seek to communicate competently, to appreciate diversity, and to unravel the mystery of another language as we glorify God for His gift of French.

Some other things we think are really neat to know

Elementary students begin learning French in grade 1! Oui! C’est vrai!

Students get a whole 90 minutes of music each week.

Our principal Mrs. Riemer started as a student at ACS in 1990.

We belive in outdoor play! In fact, our students experience 8,100 minutes of outdoor playtime in a year.

The elementary Story Walk showcases a new book each month. You can get some exercise and read at the same time!

The Drive to Revive is raising funds for $3 million worth of improvements at our elementary campus.