Staffing

What are the qualifications of the teaching staff at Westmont?

Westmont staff have various qualifications depending on their role within the school.

Early Years staff generally have an Early Childhood Educator Certificate or Early Childhood Education Assistant Certificate. Additionally, all Early Years classrooms will have at minimum one teacher with a BC Teacher Certification to support Kindergarten students. Some of our teachers also have a Masters!

All Elementary and up-core classroom teachers are required, by Ministry of Education, to hold BC Teacher Certification. Additionally, Westmont requires our teachers to have Montessori training at the appropriate level, or be in the process of obtaining the certification within two years of being hired. Again, several of our teachers also possess a Masters.

Specialty teachers are occasionally hired because of their unique skillset and years of experience in the field. Some of these teachers will not hold BC Teacher Certification, but teach under the supervision of a certified teacher.

Educational Assistants hold different certificates and or experiences suited to the role they are employed in. These can range from personal experiences as a family caregiver with an individual with similar learning differences to holding a Masters in Education.

What are the staffing ratios and class sizes in the programs?

We have very favourable staffing ratios.

• Early Years: 8 to 1. Our Early Primary/Kindergarten classes have 16 students each and we currently have 6 classes in this program.
• Lower Elementary: 20 to 1. Our Lower Elementary classes are capped at 24 students each and we currently have 4 classes in this program.
• Upper Elementary: 20 to 1. Our Lower Elementary classes are capped at 24 students each and we currently have 3 classes in this program.
• Middle School: 15 to 1. Our Middle School class is currently capped at 30 students.
• High School: 15 to 1. Our High School is currently capped at 40 students.