The City of New Westminster and the New Westminster School District have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote effective collaboration in the area of digital innovation in education. The MOU also seeks to provide increased emphasis on future innovation, creativity, and youth entrepreneurialism.

“The City of New Westminster is proud to partner with the New Westminster School District to further expand and enable students to engage in their own digital futures,” said Mayor Jonathan X. Coté. “We believe that by working together we can achieve our shared goals to improve digital inclusion, enhance connections between creative learning spaces, and ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive in the new digital economy.”

The City of New Westminster and New Westminster School District will collaborate to further the shared goals of digital inclusion through various activities including but not limited to:

• Enhancing connections between creative learning spaces and industry employing the new city fibre network to advance digital education;
• Working  together to determine what future knowledge workforce and other related skills and resources are needed for all levels of learners in digital media and technology, including identifying and incorporating resources such as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), the New Media Gallery, and Anvil Centre Learning Lab;
• Continuing to focus on arts and culture with an increased emphasis on future innovation, creativity, and youth entrepreneurialism in sectors such as digital media by encouraging students at all levels to participate;
• Working closely together to determine what facilities, structures, resources, and approaches are needed to support the growth of innovation and the knowledge workforce in the city and in schools in the future.

“At New Westminster Schools, our students are engaged in everything from maker spaces and design thinking in the earliest grades, to robotics and digital media in upper-level sciences and arts,” said Mark Gifford, New Westminster Schools Board of Education Chair. “It's an exciting time in digital technology both in our schools and in the city. In launching this Innovation Partnership today, together we will strengthen connections and enrich learning opportunities for our students as we prepare them to adapt in a rapidly changing world of work and learning.”

As part of the ongoing commitment to working together and implementing unique opportunities for collaboration, the City and New Westminster School District will be holding a workshop in the Learning Lab at Anvil Centre on Thursday, November 22, 2018. New Westminster principals and vice-principals will tour the New Media Gallery followed by a workshop and competition in the Learning Lab. The Learning Lab is a dedicated programming space that contains an array of sophisticated STEAM-based teaching technologies.

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Contacts:

Patricia Jecks
Intelligent City Program Manager
City of New Westminster
604-636-4458 or

or