New School Building for Southpointe Academy: The Case for Support

Southpointe Academy was created in the year 2000 in Tsawwassen. It was located in leased premises in a strip mall, though parents were promised a new school ‘in two years’. A large billboard was erected on the property known as the Southlands declaring, ‘Future Home of Southpointe Academy’.

By September 2003, no new building having been forthcoming, the school was housed in a motel conversion, a real-estate office conversion, and the original strip mall, all leased from the Century Group.

In August 2004, the non-profit Society that ran the school had the repayment of a large loan demanded immediately by the bank and the school faced closure with debts of $1.75 million. Happily, a group of committed parents formed a new non-profit Society and obtained the rights to the school name. Their superhuman efforts, together with the commitment and loyalty of the school’s staff, kept the school alive.

By August 2005, the debt had been eliminated and the school was on a sound financial footing. It has never been in debt since that time, nor has it ever used its credit line.
Since September 2005, the school has grown in size, performance and stature: its graduates grace the halls of many universities, (including The University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, The University of Victoria, McGill University, The University of Toronto, The University of Western Ontario, The University of Calgary, Queen’s University, The University of Waterloo, Trinity Western University, Dalhousie University, Duke University, The University of Washington, Thomson Rivers University, Emily Carr University, The University of Northern British Columbia, Bond University, Mount Allison University, and Harvard University); there are athletic championship banners adorning the hallways; music certificates from national band championships have their honoured place in the band room; the students are renowned for their great support of such charitable causes as the Terry Fox Foundation, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Breast Cancer Foundation, Delta Assist and Covenant House; our global education program enables our students to experience other countries –China, France, Spain, New Zealand –both by visiting them and receiving guests from them, while our Project Discover program develops self-reliance, decision-making, leadership and respect for our natural environment. Last year, our students achieved no less than three perfect scores on the SAT tests, while 100% of our candidates scored perfect 5’s in Advanced Placement Chemistry. In addition, our examination averages on the mandatory Provincial examinations exceeded the provincial averages by 16% (Math10), 16% (Science 10), 12% (English 10), 10% (Socials 11) and 10% (English 12). We also exceeded the independent school averages in all subjects.