Brentwood College tops Island schools

Times Colonist (Victoria)

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Brentwood College received the highest rating of any Vancouver Island school in the Fraser Institute's annual Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools released Monday.

The private school in Mill Bay received a 9.5 rating out of 10 for the 2000-01 school year, leaving the school sixth in the annual B.C. rankings, part of the detailed report card issued by the Vancouver-based think tank.

Four private schools tied for top honours in the province, each with rankings of 10.0 -- Crofton House, St. George's and Little Flower Academy of Vancouver, and Southridge senior secondary in Surrey.

The Fraser Institute ranks schools in the province in descending order from one to 276 according to their academic performance. Schools' ratings are based on a number of criteria, including provincial exam participation and results and graduation rates.

According to the institute, the "foundation of the Report Card is an overall rating of each school's academic performance.''

St. Michaels University School, a private school in Saanich, was right behind Brentwood College at No. 7, after receiving a 9.2 rating. Shawnigan Lake School was No. 9 at 9.0 while Glenlyon-Norfolk School in Victoria was 10th with 8.7.

The highest-ranked public school on the Island was Frances Kelsey secondary of Mill Bay, which offers a self-directed curriculum.

Frances Kelsey was tied for 11th with an 8.6 score, making it the second-highest ranked public school in the province.

Also making the provincial Top 25 were Island public schools Ucluelet secondary and Parkland secondary in the Saanich district, which tied for 18th spot with North Vancouver's Handsworth secondary at 8.0, and private St. Margaret's of Saanich, which tied for 21st at 7.9.

Other Island schools in the top 50 included Maxwell International Bahai School in Shawnigan Lake and St. Andrew's regional high school in Saanich, in a three-way tie for 26th at 7.8.

Dover Bay secondary in Nanaimo and Greater Victoria district's Mount Douglas secondary tied for 31st at 7.6; and Stelly's secondary of Saanich district, tied for 46th at 7.2.