Global Programs

At YHS, Global Programs refer to learning experiences that connect students to the world beyond the classroom.

Global Programs include student-led clubs such as First Responders, Robotics, Green Club, Random Acts of Kindness, and Model United Nations. They include community-based programs with partners such as Each One Teach One and Kidsafe where YHS students learn through volunteering as mentors with young people in Vancouver. They include an Incubator for Social Innovation where students have an opportunity to engage in a design process and take a nugget of an idea to action. They include Outdoor Education adventures where students from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 12 explore the woods, mountains, and sea in British Columbia. They include national and international excursions and international exchange opportunities in Mexico, England, and Australia, China, and France.

Through such experiences, students develop knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to learn, live, and lead well. They learn through doing. They learn through an ongoing cycle of understanding, action, and reflection.

A key goal at York House School is for graduates to apply their learning to daily tasks, new scenarios, a changing environment, and issues of local and global significance with curiosity and confidence.

To do this, we believe that students must build their capacity to:

Know themselves;
Investigate the world;
Recognize, seek to understand, and value diverse perspectives; and
Take informed and ethical action

This approach to learning draws on and extends the York House School’s 90-year commitment to progressive, futures-oriented education for girls. Since 1932, York House School has cultivated a futures-oriented, values-based education where each child is encouraged to pursue a life of joy and purpose. Connecting the school and the broader community is a key goal at YHS. Our school motto, “Not for Ourselves Alone,” expresses our commitment as a learning community to the growth of each individual, the betterment of our YHS community and the world.

Our programs and partnerships are guided by values of diversity and inclusion, a belief in the dignity and respect of all people, reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationships, innovation, and a commitment to deepening our individual and collective understanding of key concepts and pressing issues of our time.

International Exchange Program

YHS has long-standing partnerships with five schools for international exchange:

Seymour College in Adelaide, Australia
King Edward School for Girls in Birmingham, England
St Helen & St Katharine School, Abingdon, England
Colegio Williams in Cuernevaca, Mexico
Lauriston School for Girls, Melbourne, Australia

The International Exchange Program is open to ten YHS students in Grades 9 and 10. While temporarily on pause due to COVID, students apply in April of each year for the following academic year. Participating students:

Host a student from a partner school in a homestay scenario for four weeks;
Participate in a series of workshops at York House to prepare for their experience abroad, and to process their learning on return;
Live with an exchange partner and family for four weeks (including two weeks of the March break); and
Reflect on and share their learning with the York House community.

Local Partnerships

Little School
Kindergarten students grow food in the garden and share this with the community. They participate in the Terry Fox Run, make cards for the Marpole Women’s Society, and create holiday gifts for Family Services of Greater Vancouver.

Junior School
Junior School students learn about water, food security, and literacy through classroom and community projects with Backpack Buddies. They develop relationships with children and elders beyond YHS through long-standing partnerships with organizations such as South Granville Park Lodge, the Reading Bear Society, Queen Alexandra Elementary, BC Children’s Hospital, and the YWCA.

Senior School

Volunteer Festival: The annual student-led Volunteer Festival exposes students to volunteer opportunities and inspires and supports their involvement in understanding and taking action on community-based opportunities for engagement and leadership in the Vancouver community.

Fundraising Festival: Students raise awareness about social issues and invite student voice, choice, and critical discernment around fundraising contributions to social causes.

Pop-up Board Council: Students raise awareness around the school about initiatives, issues, opportunities, and connections as a community.

Vancouver School Board Community Schools Mentorship (previously called KidsSafe): Each week, students volunteer after-school as tutors with an elementary-aged buddy from Queen Alexandra School.

Each-One-Teach-One Program: Partnering with St. George’s School students, YHS students act as mentors to elementary-aged students from Admiral Seymour Elementary School.

Engage! Student-led Speaker Series: Students share their own experiences of their volunteering, community engagement, and learning about community-based issues.

Incubator for Social Innovation: Students take a nugget of an idea for social innovation to action through a design process.