Ideal Mini School, Secondary school building in Vancouver, Canada
Ideal Mini School is a secondary school in Vancouver, British Columbia, offering classes from grade 8 through grade 12 in a small group setting. The building is located on West 59th Avenue and houses all year groups together in one compact space.
The school was founded in 1972 by teacher Garry Nixon and started out in a building that had previously been used as a sausage factory. It moved through several locations in Vancouver before settling at its current address.
Staff and students interact on a first-name basis, creating a tight-knit learning community where relationships form across age groups. This approach shapes how the school operates as a group and how people work together daily.
Getting in requires an entrance process that looks at English and cognitive skills, along with school grades and involvement in activities outside the classroom. This is not a place open to casual visitors, so anyone who wants to see the school should arrange contact in advance.
In 1995, the school scored the highest results in the province on the English 12 final exam and came second in English Literature 12 across all of British Columbia. This showed that a school with a small number of students can match much larger institutions on standardized tests.
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