The Langley School District is one of the earliest school districts in British Columbia. It was established on April 30, 1871 prior to British Columbia becoming part of Canada. The first teacher appointed to the Langley School board by the Province of British Columbia was Mr. William W. Gibbs on June 21, 1872. There were 30 students in the district that year.[1]
In 1906-7, the school district formed a single board of trustees to cover all schools, rather than boards of trustees for each individual school. That year, schools in the district included Belmont, Aldergrove, Glen Valley, South Aldergrove (Patricia), Langley Prairie, Port Kells, Lochiel, Beaver, Langley, Otter, Springbrook, Glencoe, Douglas, East Langley, and Glenwood.[2]
Grades 9 and 10 were taught in the district for the first time when a room was rented at the Billy Murray Hotel for 23 students. In 1909, the high school students were moved to the old cheese factory, and then to Belmont Superior School in 1911.[2]
The District's first permanent secondary school, Langley High School, was opened September, 1924. After 1948, the school was converted into Langley Central Elementary School, which continued to operate until it burned down in 1993.[3]
The school district gained some fame in 2001 with the re-release of The Langley Schools Music Project, a collection of children's chorus recordings made from 1976–77 by Canadian music teacher Hans Fenger in the Glenwood Elementary School gymnasium. The students from Glenwood, South Carvolth, Lochiel and Wix-Brown performed unique versions of pop hits by the likes of The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney. The recordings were quickly forgotten until Irwin Chusid, a DJ on the New Jersey radio station WFMU rediscovered them in 2000. He managed to get them released on Bar/None Records, and they immediately created an international buzz, making many end-of-the-year best album lists in 2001. VH-1 orchestrated a reunion of the students and their teacher in 2002, and aired a documentary as well.[citation needed]
Alex Hope Elementary School – named after Alexander Campbell Hope, a former member of the British Columbia assembly
Alice Brown Elementary School
Belmont Elementary School
Blacklock Elementary School (Fine Arts)
Bradshaw Elementary School (now closed) – a former bilingual public elementary school. Named after H. Bradshaw, a respected magistrate of the 1930s, Bradshaw Elementary was built in 1973 on what had been a strawberry field bounded by Anderson Creek. On Thursday, June 28, 2007 Bradshaw dismissed the students for the last time due to successive years of low enrollment.
Lochiel (U-Connect) Elementary School – formerly a K–3 French immersion elementary school, closed in June 2001. Now open as a distance learning centre.
Lynn Fripps Elementary School
Nicomekl Elementary School
Noel Booth Elementary School
North Otter Elementary School
Parkside Centennial Elementary School
Peterson Road Elementary School
RC Garnett Elementary School (Demonstration School K–5)
Richard Bulpitt Elementary School
Shortreed Elementary School
Simonds Elementary School
South Carvolth Environmental Elementary School (now closed) – located within the boundaries of Campbell Valley Park
