Halifax West High School Information

About Halifax West High School

Type		Public Senior High school
Color		Black, Red
Language(s)		English, French
Grades		10-12 (Senior High school)
Motto		They learned Patefacite (Need To Verify)
Mascot		Weston the Warrior

Welcome to Halifax West High School

Halifax West High School offers a variety of courses in both French and English as well as International Baccalaureate (IB) diplomas for its enrollments. The students at HWHS are in grades 10 to 12, so Halifax West High School actually is a senior high school.

Principal: Greg MacKinnon

History:

Halifax West High School was constructed in 1958 on the Dutch Village Road in the suburban community of Fairview. Over the decades, the school building underwent several renovations and the word Municipal was removed from the name. HWHS was founded in 1958 but it closed in 2000 and then it opened again in 2003. The new structure was built in the Clayton Park West neighbourhood, near the summit of Geizers Hill, and was completed in the fall of 2002.

Clubs:

HWHS has many clubs, here is some of them:

Film Club: This club will look to watch movies (movienight in the Theatre) and discuss. Make short films for entrance for FilmFestivals and Film Competitions.

Concert Band: Available to any student who plays in band.

Multimedia Effects and Game Design Club Games Club: Students will get together to learn how to make and program video games,make special effect movie trailers and shorts, and make 3D animation short films.

Maker Space Club: Students interested in learning to use the 3D printer, make circuits, solder or help with the building of a life size remote-controlled R2-D2 are welcome.

Sports teams:

The Halifax West High School athletics department offers varsity and intramural sports teams for sports such as curling, football, hockey, soccer, volleyball, basketball, badminton, track and field, softball, baseball, field hockey, wrestling and rugby.

Honors:

The West Warriors Football team won provincial championships in 1991 and in 2003. In the 2012-2013 season they won the tier 2 championship defeating JL Ilsley.

The Halifax West boys' basketball team has won 4 provincial championships.

Halifax West's girls' varsity soccer team has won three provincial championships (2005-2006, 2007–2008 and 2008–2009).

The Halifax West's girls' rugby won provincials in 2013, defeating the defending champions Horton High. They also won provincials in 2014, defending their own title and beating Citadel High School.

Halifax West's Junior Varsity Boys' Soccer Team won the NSSAF Provincial Championship three times (2005–2006 and 2006–2007).

The Halifax West Football Rams first took to the gravel field in August 1965.

Semester System:

Halifax West operates on 2 semesters per academic year.
Semester 1: September- end of January
Semester 2: February- end of June
Grade 10 students take 8 courses per year (4 each semester)*
Grade 11 students take 7 courses per year (3 / 4 or 4 / 3)
Grade 12 students take 6 courses per year (3 / 3).
Final marks are issued at the end of each semester with a few exceptions in courses which
run all year such as Band 10/ English 10, Math 10 academic and the option of Extended Math 11.
Not all courses may be offered in each semester.

Tips:

If you want to speak confidently in front of the class, look at the room in advance. Whether you are speaking in your classroom or in your school's theatre, try to look at the room at least once before you make your points. Think about where you will be relative to your audience. Find out if you will have access to tools like a podium, and start planning where you want them.
This is especially important if you are speaking in a room other than your classroom. Unfamiliar environments can make nerves worse. You can lessen this by becoming familiar with the environment before you have to speak there.
Even if you don't think looking at the room will help, do it anyway. It is easier to relax in a place that is at least a little familiar.