The music starts at 8:25 a.m. from Monday to Thursday at Ecole Moody Middle School of the Arts.
Students at the Port Moody school know they have five minutes to get ready for the school day when the "Prime Time" tunes begin.
The sounds vary over the P.A. system, said principal Trevor Kolkea. Last week, he played a Jack White number. "I had on classical music once and nobody seemed to complain," he said, noting requests are also taken.
Three more bells follow during the school day: At 10:22 a.m., for the end of the nutrition break; at 12:38 p.m. to mark the end of lunch; and five minutes later, at 12:43 p.m., for the start of the Brick Block.
But, unlike other educational institutions in School District 43, there's no bell to signal the close of the school day.
It was designed that way so students could keep learning and not have to rush to wrap up their projects. "It has changed the way our students think about school," Kolkea said. "When 3 p.m. comes around here, it's like osmosis. Nobody runs away from school any more. They run to it."
Indeed, Moody's reinvention and reorganization has brought many good things this year besides the title of School of the Arts.
For example, on Fridays, students arrive at 8:55 a.m. to give team teachers an extra 30 minutes in the week to brainstorm and to collaborate.
That's because they have now structured the school population into pods - or teams - called Water, Fire, Earth and Wind in order to give students 30 months of middle school rather than the usual three years of 10 months per grade level.
Having the pods named after elements "makes a statement," Kolkea said, "because we want our students to find their element and passion while at Moody."
As well, teaching staff have been given more flexibility, using an inquiry-driven model that allows students to be somewhat self-paced with their students, using teachers as guides.
These kind of adjustments have been in the making for a while, since SD43 decided to "twin" Moody with a new school in Anmore. Eagle Mountain middle opened last month, taking with it about 470 Moody students and principal Nancy Bennett.
Kolkea, who went from Moody's vice-principal to principal for the School of the Arts, said he had many conversations with students and parents last term, trying to convince them to stay. Many students wanted to follow their friends to Eagle Mountain while some wanted to get out of the 45-year-old building and into new digs; others were unsure what a School of the Arts would mean and wanted to give it a year to see how it would pan out.
But Kolkea said while Moody has rebranded, its core values have stayed the same.
"At Ecole Moody Middle School of the Arts, you are going to experience the same learning as any other middle school but you are going to have an elevated arts component that makes our school unique," he said. "We are not dramatically different because the middle school system works."
So far, after only a month into the school year, an "elevated" arts component has meant this: Back-to-back blocks for art classes twice a week and working directly with arts professionals in the community.
Recently, Moody studentsgot dramatic arts lessons from Robert Randall of the Young Actors' Project. Next up on the roster is award-winning dancer and choreographer Cori Caulfield, founder of the Caulfield School of Dance in Port Moody.
Soon, there will also be a partnership with the Port Moody Arts Centre Society, with an artist-in-residence using a Moody classroom as a base. That position, which has yet to be finalized, will include working with students and staff on school art projects as well as creating an after-school drop-in program.
And next year will see even more alterations to the campus as Phase 2 gets underway. Construction for a new south building is due to start this winter, aimed at accommodating extra students when the Evergreen Line opens in 2016 and for the added density in Moody Centre as projected in the new official community plan approved this week by city council.
Kolkea said he's just happy Phase 1 was able to launch this year given the financial pressures for SD43's board of education and the teachers' strike. He's pleased the Mavericks, as the Moody students are called, have now settled into their modified surroundings and have ample classroom space to develop their skills.
Kolkea said his staff are also eager to create SD43's first School of the Arts while continuing to honour Moody's past.
"We want to keep the rich traditions of Terry Fox [Foundation fundraising] and Spirit assemblies," he said. "How do we do those things now? Well, we have to be realistic. We are not going to fill the gym anymore and raise $35,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation like we have been.
"We have to celebrate those goals and create new ones and, for us, that means 100% participation in everything we do and give meaning to every day that we're here."
