QMS Boys Then & Now

Story appeared in the 2014 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.

BY LEANNE SCHULTZ, OPERATIONS & HR MANAGER

Boys have been an integral part of the Queen Margaret’s School student body since our inception in 1921.

Boys in the Grade 2 classroom show off their LEGO creations.

Though there have been a few brief periods where boys may not have attended, they are very much an important and valued part of our junior school community. However, boys attending QMS today may have a very different experience than those who attended earlier in the school’s history!

Ander Ibarrola Echeverria and Enrique Esparza Pizano, both from Mexico, enjoy skiing in Whistler.

When Tim Irwin entered Grade 1 at QMS in 1946, he attended classes held in the basement of Old Main, where the teacher used a scroll of brown paper as her “brown board.” Compare this to today’s typical male QMS student, who enjoys large bright classroom spaces, various dynamic learning environments and curriculum integrated technologies such as iPads and laptops. As Grade 7 student Liam Mitchell notes, “In my two years at QMS, I’ve learned a lot, made new friends, and discovered new sports. Classes here are truly different from all other schools (in a good way).”

Whether in co-ed classrooms from Kindergarten to Grade 6, or in the sin-gle-gender Grade 7/8 boys program, QMS male students are given various opportunities to learn in their own way, such as project-based, hands-on kinesthetic learning.

Mr. Dominic Smith co-teaches the Grade 7/8 boys program with Mrs. Jill Hutchison. Together, they teach self-management, self-social awareness, and responsible decision making skills which are key to growing into respectful, responsible and reliable students, no matter what gender they are.

Through personalized learning experiences that offer opportunities in athletics such as rowing and rugby clinics, service activities, academic engagement and exploration in the arts, Queen Margaret’s School boys will continue to be offered the keys to exploring their personal and professional success.

The faces of QMS boys, then and now.