Greenbank Middle School (GMS) is an intermediate public school in Nepean

Nepean, Ontario

- Recent quantity of snow :- History :Nepean Township, originally known as Township D, was established in 1792 and originally included what is now the central area of Ottawa west of the Rideau River. Jehiel Collins, from Vermont, is believed to have been the first person to settle in Nepean...

, a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Founded in 1963, it aims to be a student-centered learning environment where students become informed decision-makers. It is located on Greenbank Road, from which it gets its name. It is paired with Knoxdale Public School, a primary school and a principal feeder to Greenbank.

Students

GMS, as it is known by its students, houses an enrollment of nearly 700 Grade 7 and 8 students, representing over 20 countries and languages, including Romanian, Serbian, Senegalise, Russian, Persian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Antarctican, Spanish, Polish, Bangali, Arabic, Algerian, Somali and Tamil . It serves mainly students from the areas surrounding Greenbank, including Barrhaven

Barrhaven, Ontario

Barrhaven is a rapidly growing suburban neighbourhood in the southwest of the urban area of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, about southwest of downtown Ottawa. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2006 Census was...

, Centrepointe

Centrepointe

Centrepointe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada and part of the former city of Nepean. The population of Centrepointe is between 4,000 and 4,500 people...

, Bayshore, and Longfields-Davidson Heights.

When the students graduate from Greenbank Middle School, most go to Sir Robert Borden High School

Sir Robert Borden High School

Sir Robert Borden High School is a high school located on Greenbank Road in Ottawa, Ontario. Adjacent to the main office of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, this school was founded in 1969 and named after the late Conservative Prime Minister of Canada, Robert Borden.Architecturally, the...

, although some choose to go to Merivale High School

Merivale High School

Merivale High School is a secondary school, located at the intersection of Merivale Road and Viewmount Drive in Nepean, Ontario, Canada. The school is known for its gifted student program, but also runs French Immersion programs and extensive visual art, music, and co-operative education...

, Woodroffe High School, Bell High School

Bell High School (Ottawa)

Bell High School is a high school located in Bells Corners of Ottawa, Canada. Established in 1962 by the Carleton Board of Education as a public high school, it currently serves as one of the only two facilities with the prestigious OCDSB Gifted Program...

, Glebe High School

Glebe Collegiate Institute

Glebe Collegiate Institute is a high school in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Administered by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Glebe Collegiate Institute has approximately 1,500 students; students and sports teams are referred to as "Gryphons".The school offers many...

, Colonel By Secondary School

Colonel By Secondary School

Colonel By Secondary School is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board high school. It is located in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Gloucester in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a non-semestered school, and is the only English public school in Ottawa that offers the International...

, Lisgar Collegiate Institute

Lisgar Collegiate Institute

Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Lisgar Collegiate Institute, one of the country's best regarded public schools, is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal and is only a few blocks from Canada's Parliament Hill...

, Mother Teresa High School

Mother Teresa High School

Mother Teresa High School is a Catholic secondary school in Nepean, Ontario, Canada. It supports grades 7-12. The name of its sports team is the 'Titans.' The motto of the school is "Amor et Dignitas" or "Serve .....

 and Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School

Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School

Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School is Grade 7-11 public school in Nepean, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2009, it is the first school on the OCDSB to encompass grades 7 through 11.- Faculty :...

.

Faculty

As of 2006, Greenbank Middle School has a staff of 12 teachers. All staff members have earned additional educational qualifications through ongoing professional development including Special Education, ESL, Masters degrees in various fields, Visual Arts and Computers in Education. Teachers are also involved in extracurricular activities.

Principal Jennifer Offord was the subject of an Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...

 profile as a part of their series on her previous school, York Street Public School

York Street Public School

York Street Public School is an elementary school in the Lower Town neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada. The school was built in 1922 replacing four smaller schools in the area: Robinson Primary, George Street, Rideau Street, and Bolton...

.

Athletic Program

The GMS students are known as the Greenbank Gators. The Intramurals program has won the Outstanding Intramural Achievement Award of the Canadian Intramural Recreation Association of Ontario from 2003 to 2007.

Sports include:

• Track and Field
• Cross Country
• Basketball
• Volleyball
• Touch Football (sometimes tackle)
• Soccer
• Walking/Running (Gator Trek)
• Ultimate (Frisbee)
• Badminton

Alongside their athletic teams are the "Gatoraids, the athletic council of the school which helps to organize athletic events around the school.
This year in 2010, the grade 8 boys' touch football team had a phenomenal season, winning the regional championships and being the best players of the year.

Entrepreneurial program

Mme. Christina Organista-Martin's grade 7 French Immersion class decided that it wants to help prevent global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

 and decided that it will make a project selling reusable bags and giving profits to the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Carleton University

Carleton University

Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...

 for research and education into reducing greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

 emissions.

Kids Helping Kids

A big part of what makes this school notable across Ottawa is Kids Helping Kids, a 3 on 3 basketball fundraiser. The first program of its kind, it was established several years ago, fueling school spirit while allowing for thousands of dollars to be fundraised for schools support student- oriented programs in neighboring OCDSB “Beacon Schools”. (That is to say some schools without enough financial support to operate proper athletic programs or established extracurricular activities.) The program has now since spread from the one school several years ago, to across multiple schools in Ottawa wishing to lend a hand as well to the beacon schools.

Planned, organized and run by the school's athletic department (which consists of a small team working hundreds of hours for preparation), the 2-day event, allowing competition in Recreational and Competitive teams,this years competitive grade 8 winners was the Fab Five,has in the past attracted media attention from local news organizations (e.g. CHRO

CHRO-TV

CHRO-TV is a television station serving the National Capital and Ottawa Valley regions of Ontario, Canada. Owned by Bell Media, it is part of the CTV Two television system....

 and the Ottawa Sun

Ottawa Sun

The Ottawa Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is published by Sun Media. It was first published in the early 1980s as the Ottawa Sunday Herald, until it was acquired by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation in 1988....

). As well it has been commended by the school board for its program. (See reference below)

Extracurricular Activities and Clubs

• A Student Government
• Choir and Arts Clubs
• A fall and spring outdoor intramural program
• A winter indoor gym-based intramural program
• Spirit Days
• Many interscholastic athletic teams
• Soccer intramurals
• Volleyball intramurals
• Basketball intramurals
• Junior, Senior and Jazz Bands
• Mural Painting Club
• Photography Club

Creative Learning Techniques

GMS uses creative techniques to teach, including:

• A Grade 8 stock market
  Stock market
  A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
  
  simulation game; the GSX is a unit designed to teach and explore the word of stock trading, then allow the students to simulate the real thing.
• A School-wide Environmental Club; including a Recycling Program and a team to help with the landscaping.
• A wide variety of day and multi-day curriculum related field trips; these include museums, nature hikes, etc., all designed to teach in a fun learning atmosphere.
• A Homework Club
• An Arts Department involving:
  • Instrumental Music
  • General Music-**Dramatic Arts for all classes, the 8th grade Late French Immersion class being excepted
  • Visual Arts
• An extensive curricular based “End-of-Year” Trip for 8th grade students with a high enough average

Sources

• Greenbank Middle School Honoured for "Kids Helping Kids" program