William Berczy Public School
| William Berczy Public School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | "Where students want to learn, teachers want to teach and parents want to get involved"; "To live is to learn" |
| Established | 1968 |
| School district | York Region District School Board |
| Principal | James Flynn |
| Staff | ~50 |
| Grades | K–8 |
| Number of students | 700–800 |
| Language | English |
| Colour(s) | Blue, Gold |
| Mascot | Berczy Bears |
| Affiliation | None |
| Website | William Berczy PS |
William Berczy Public School is a public elementary school in the town of Unionville, Ontario, Canada. It is a public school in the York Region District School Board. The school's name comes from William Berczy, who founded the town in which the school is located. It relatively old compared to other schools in the area at 40 years as of 2008.
Structure
Original Layout
The school itself is a two-storey building. Originally intended for a high school, William Berczy has a relatively large gym at the centre of the school with rooms surrounding. The ground floor mainly consists of offices and facilities with only 6 classrooms. The office, all the washrooms, the music room and the staff room were all located on the ground floor. The second floor of William Berczy is significantly different from other schools. Originally planned as an "open concept", the second floor of William Berczy is structured as hubs. Two large areas of the floor are connected by the library. In the centre is a hub in which the classrooms are decided upon 6 triangular shaped classrooms branching out from the hub. In the 1970s, walls were added to separate the classrooms. The walls could originally open and close. Now however,on the walls are stuck at semi-open. The upstairs is extremely compacted with no hallways so students must cross other classrooms to get to their own classroom. In addition to this, a portapak adds another 4 classrooms to the school along with 3 other separated portables. At the start of the school, there were 11 portables.
Renovations
In 2002, a new wing was added as an expansion to the north-west end of the school. Other changes include the moving of the portables and in its place creating pavement and several basketball nets. There was only one portable along with the portapak as of 2005. Because the office was hard to locate from the main entrance of the school, and for security, there has been construction since July 2006. The school's office and a classroom have been combined to make a bigger office. The stairs to the right of the main entrance was be removed and a hallway will be built in place connecting the new office to the main entrance. It was finished by the end of summer 2006. A team of parent volunteers help out in planting and gardening in the spring season. In 2007, two new portables have been added due to the increasing number of students attending William Berczy. The back of the school has two small soccer fields which could be combined to make one large soccer field, accompanied with a baseball diamond. In the past, locks from previous graduated students have been put on the back fence, but they have been recently removed. However, one lock remains on the baseball diamond's fence.
Gifted Program
One of the main programs in this school is the Gifted Program. The main reason for the high population of William Berczy is its gifted program. In Ontario, students are diagnosed for gifted screening in grade 3 and are transferred to a gifted program from grades 4-8. William Berczy is the school to most of the gifted students of Markham. It also receives the grade 7 and 8 gifted students that graduate from Roy H. Crosby Public School in grade 6. For this reason, there are almost 10 buses at William Berczy and only students at a walking distance from William Berczy are permitted to attend the regular program. More than 50% of the students of William Berczy are gifted. Gifted students from William Berczy may choose to Markham District High School as a continuation of the Gifted Program, as well as Unionville High School, a high school for those that are interested in a career in art, as well as Bill Crothers Secondary School, a school for those interested in a career in athletics . The Gifted Program, however, only continues up until grade 10.
Extracurricular Programs
Sports
William Berczy offers junior and intermediate sports teams. The sports offered are soccer, basketball, and volleyball. There is a junior and intermediate volleyball team, basketball team, but the soccer team is only for intermediates. Currently, junior and intermediate volleyball teams have already finished. Intermediate basketball had commenced shortly after the volleyball teams. Junior basketball tryouts have just started. Soccer team hasn't started yet.
Music
Many extracurricular music programs commence at William Berczy:
-Band A, previously called Grade 8 band. Musicians with over one year of experience are allowed to join.
-Band B, a band for just-starting-to-learn-instruments students.
-Dixieland Beat
-String Quartet, an ensemble of string players.
-Triple Melodies, a trio of singers
-Concert Choir, made up of junior and intermidiate students
-Conductors Choir, made up of Grade 8 students
-Jazz Band, made up of jazz players
Clubs
-O Ambassadors -Art Club -Dance Commitee -Eco-Club
External links
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