Brentwood College School - Review #1

Brentwood Offers a waterfront campus for access to rowing and holds one of the biggest rowing regattas in Canada every year. Brentwood also offers many programs to get you involved in your community such as the BEAT (Brentwood Environmental Action Team). There are also sports such as outdoor pursuits which allow you to experience vancouver islands beautiful nature first hand through camping, hiking, and kayaking.

I think my favourite thing was my Rugby trip to Argentina during spring break in grade 12. It was a great bonding experience and helped prepare our team for the season as well as let us see a new culture and meet new people and make new friends. I would highly suggest getting involved in a team sport as it brings you close together.

I would say just try and get out more and meet new people faster. I took a bit too long to start making friends that I ended up becoming best friends with. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and meet new people right from the get go.

The school just had a very nice welcome atmosphere. Everyone knew everyone and there was always something to do or someone to talk to if you needed it. The faculty were great and you could easily become friends with them as they helped you on your way.

Privett House is most definitely the best house. It is an all boys house but I would most definitely recommend it for any boy headed to brentwood. Great people, great space and great houseparents.

It was very easy to get 1 on 1 time with all the teachers. Most lived on campus and with such a small number of students it was quite easy to get the help you needed. There was also lots of tutor systems and an enforced work time every night that really helped students get the work done they needed helping lead to success and helping prepare you by setting yourself a schedule. There was a fairly big selection of classes depending on what was needed for university.

The athletic program was great, split into 3 terms. Each term you could pick a sport and depending on yourself you could pick a sport to have fun with, to compete at a high level, or just stay in shape. There were competitive sports such as rugby, ice hockey, soccer, field hockey, etc... or you could join cross country just to stay in shape. there was also outdoor pursuits which involved paddle boarding kayaking and many outdoor skills that you could join if you were looking to just have fun.

The arts program was pretty amazing, every other day would be arts day as opposed to sports day. Every student had a total of 4 open art blocks and you could take anything from robotics/engineering type arts to pottery or Theatre. In the theatre you be one of the actors or join the stage crew working on lighting music and the behind the scenes work on the school productions. There was also choirs and bands that performed not only at school but also in competitions. There are great facilities with a fairly new arts building just being finished a couple years ago with a full pottery studio and a giant theatre for all performances.

There many ways to get involved in the school community and the outside community. There were environmental programs where you could go help clean out parts of nature and help plant gardens, there were peer counselling groups helping you learn how to help peers and learn about serious issues. Brentwood has a lot of options that are great in helping you keep busy.

Dorm life can be hard at first but it ends up being pretty great once you're used to it. Brentwood has a lot of room in the dorms to allow you to have your own space even though the rooms are shared. Going to school in a boarding house is great because you have 60 or so people that are either in the same situation as you or have already been there. It is super easy to find help at any time in the house and you form quite the bond with your housemates. You do however have to clean your rooms everyday and pass an inspection with an extra clean inspection being conducted on Saturday mornings.

Brentwood offered really good food options and if the meal for that day isn't to your liking there is a grocery store and some restaurants within a 5 minute walk. You have about an hour for every meal so you can go anytime in that period with whoever you want and there is no dress code like some other schools. The dining hall is pretty great and the food options are awesome.

Town life is great because all around the school within a 5 minute walk is pretty much everything you would need. There is a grocery store, a couple gas stations, some fast food options and then some real restaurants. there is even a nice restaurant on the water that you can go to for special occasions such as birthdays with friends or family. The city of victoria is also only a 30-45min drive if you feel like heading out for the weekend and you can get the permission.

Social life was cool because it was super easy to make friends as you're all living in the same space. with all the school events and interhouse and dances on Saturday nights, you can make new friends every week and by the end of the year you know almost everyone at the school.