Author archive for: Briana Tomkinson
Downtown, Headline, Restaurants »
Setting a new standard for café quality in New Westminster, Quantum Deli and Bistro brings a little slice of Yaletown to our Downtown area (cat-sized dogs not included).
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Businesses, Downtown, Events, Featured, Lifestyle, Shopping »
One of my many nerdy pleasures is games. Before having kids, I loved to play both computer games and board games. I even played a little Magic: The Gathering with friends (and liked it!). So you can perhaps imagine the little frisson of fun I felt when I stumbled upon a new board game shop just a block off New Westminster’s bridal boulevard.
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Parenting, Schools, West End »
Strong Start, a provincially funded, free program for children under six and their parents, is expanding with a new afternoon program in New Westminster’s West End. The program is a gentle introduction to school for preschoolers through play-based learning.
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Parenting, Schools, West End »
The school district is currently gathering feedback on a series of “options” for where to locate New Westminster’s programs of choice (French Immersion and Montessori). The author of the report, Sandra Pace, has been very careful to say “I’m not making recommendations, I’m just presenting options.” Yet based on the information I saw at the Tweedsmuir presentation of Pace’s report, there are good reasons why this review is going on. It is dishonest for the district to ask parents to comment on all these “options” as though they are all equally viable.
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Issues, Schools »
Today I planned to take my kids up to Ready, Set, Learn at Tweedsmuir Elementary. Alas, I was led astray by bad information on an undated (and apparently stale) PDF on the School District website. I’m picking on the school district today, but this problem is endemic to New Westminster institutions.
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New Westminster, Parenting, Queensborough, Sapperton, Schools, West End »
A few times a week, I pack the kids across town from our home in the West End to Strong Start over at McBride Elementary in Sapperton. Wesley love, love, LOVES to go to “school” and I love, love, LOVE that it’s both free and fun for all of us.
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Arts & Culture, Events »
Like thousands of others in New West, I made my way to Queen’s Park for the Torch Relay festivities on Tuesday. Lukewarm to the Olympics thus far, I thought that I might catch the spirit once in the presence of the Flame and thousands of others cheering for Canada and the Games. I was proud of the turnout in New West, but I came away somewhat more turned off the Olympics after having seen the flame go past.
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Downtown, New Westminster »
For years we have lived in the shadow of construction cranes towering over Columbia St., and this promised revitalization has not yet come. Yet I think this long-overdue hope will soon be realized, as we approach a critical mass of major development projects and an accompanying demographic shift that really will have the power to transform New Westminster’s downtown.
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New Westminster »
Locals have been speculating about the probably path of the Torch route through New Westminster for some time, but today the real deal was revealed.
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Growing up in NW, New Westminster, Parenting, Schools »
When it comes to registration in “programs of choice” in the public school system, there must be a better way. In New West, we don’t have parents camping out on the sidewalk overnight to be the first in line to register their kids (thank goodness) but our method is still crazy. In New West, instead of having the insanity begin the year before a child enters school, it begins at birth. As soon as you have your child’s birth certificate, you can sign them up for the school and program you hope they will enjoy six years later. You can even sign them up for late French Immersion, 12 years in the future.
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