Webber Academy - Calgary

Great community, good facility and even better staff! Don't hesitate to send your child here, I've been attending this wonderful school since grade 4! I couldn't have asked for better teachers and better peers! Great athletic teams and language programs. Well done Webber!

Hey webber, I don’t know if you know this, but there is something called a personal account. Next time you say “not found in student database”, I want you to go home, turn on your computer, and check your accounts side. A personal account is not a fake account, and heard immunity is not “no more Covid”, it more like “why kid go sick?”. Many kids agree that the school is lifeless and depressing, and the only thing they like are the lunches. When the one thing you glorify is nonexistent, you know you have a problem. If you feel like suing angry parents, just think about your past cases and your reputation.? ? a ? ? n L?a …. . . .. . .. . …./ .. . … . . ..

Went here for 13 years, I am only speaking of my own personal experiences. There is a “grades and academia are crucial to life” culture, but that is to be expected from a university preparatory school. Attending this school, I learned a lot more than the average student and was able to do things I would not have been able to do in public school. The teachers, over the years, have been a bit hit or miss.. but the good teachers are truly great and care about the students a lot. The language programs are amazing and if you’re good at sports, there’s lots of opportunities. I would have appreciated more mental health and well-being supports from the school - especially considering how high stress the environment is. Overall, I’m grateful for my experiences here.

I'll start out by saying that the education at Webber is indeed amazing. It certainly pales in comparison to other private institutions across Canada that offer a more liberal and hands-on approach to learning, but its probably the best educational experience in Calgary. The teachers are well-qualified and understand their subject best, and Webber instills the academic preparation necessary for "university and beyond." However, I think Webber, in pretending to be something that it's not, has cultivated a damaging environment and culture that makes it a damaging, destructive, and dreadful experience. I attended Webber till 2017 before I moved to Ontario. When I look back at it now, I think it has been the root of most of my problems. Webber fosters a "good academic student," and like many others have said, this is often at the cost of the student's personal well-being. But I won't be commenting on this as I realize that many families, like mine, weirdly desire and prioritize this over anything. However, you should note that students at Webber oftentimes go to the same university as students in public school. Oftentimes, the graduates will head off to UBC, UCalgary, UofT, Western, Queen's etc - all lackluster Canadian universities that your child could get into from just about any public school. It's important to realize as well that these universities only look at your child's grades when considering their application. None of the AP or external benefits at Webber will influence your child's acceptance here, but they may actually hurt your child's chances as Webber tends to deflate grades (students that get 99s in public schools come to get low 90s here). Yet, I wanted to focus my review on the cultural aspect of Webber - what I found most damaging in my years here. People are right: Webber is not trying to build your child to be a caring, compassionate citizen. It panders and glorifies a cut-throat environment, but also as an obviously right-winged family business, it ignores the principles of diversity and inclusion. I recall an incident here where two Muslim students were banned from praying on campus grounds. It's certainly worrying that a school goes out of their way to institute regulation on an individual act that did not have any adverse effects on the other students. In my time here, I can attest to instances of occasional racism, but I can also speak to how those at this school are obnoxious and pretentious to the point where anyone else outside of their upper-class bubble is rendered an outcast. The culture promotes the establishment of a social hierarchy (even in the younger grades) whose criterion are academic, and athletic achievement. Naturally, this contributes to bullying within the school which is not intrusively regulated by the teachers. You can probably tell that I was subject to what I would call "emotional abuse" that was perpetuated by both the teachers and students. Overall, am I glad I went here?? I'm not sure yet, but probably not. I don't think I've fully materialized all the emotional effects of attending here, and as I grow older and attend different schools, I continue to realize that the culture Webber offers is certainly not "normal." Bullying and racism are widespread, and until I see Webber drop its narrow-minded approach to education, I don't intend to send my kids here in the future. I've grown insecure, stressed, and emotionally troubled because of my time here. I've changed. I tried to be someone that I wasn't because the culture does indeed promote uniformity and relegates individual expression. Webber wants to be like those East-coast private schools so bad that it believes the only way to do so is to permit social hierarchy and a cutthroat environment, but it fails to recognize that those schools succeed because they promote individual expression, diversity and inclusion, and emphasize the development of an informed and aware citizen - all qualities that Webber lacks.

Its ok. The teachers, staff, and people could be better though. Some are creeps and others don't try enough. The students are all stressed and clearly slipping into madness. Please do better. :/

My child was in Webber for years, starting in the very early grade. But we chose to leave and go to a better school. This school looks perfect on the surface, just like what you see with your eyes, but inside, it's not. If you have watched their winter concert, you can feel that they are trying to show everything perfectly, tightly and meticulously, but the children have no emotional involvement and they are not happy. I pick up my child every afternoon at the front door of main building, I see all children coming out from building, they are not in a healthy and happy mood most of the time. This is probably the style of this school, requiring uniformity, but never let the children be themselves. School teachers have changed a lot. They have always claimed that their teaching should be ahead of other schools, but their teachers do not have the ability to do so. They rank high in the exam because of the tutoring arranged by parents for their children after school. a large part of the children go to extracurricular tutoring classes after school. So believe me, good grades come from extracurricular tutoring classes, not from that school. The school’s leadership looks kind and polite, but is actually very cold and rude. This school is more like a running company, all for money. And I believe that there is racial discrimination here, but it is not obvious. So you can see some people say that school is good because they have been treated differently. Once I worked as a volunteer to help the teacher complete the art work on the corridor wall. I saw children who had made mistakes were asked to line up and squat down in the corner of the corridor. They are treated like criminals. I don't think that humiliating children in this way can make them be better children. Humiliation education is the best manifestation of a teacher's inability to educate. So what else do I need to say, a school without love and care.

Webber Academy focuses more on academics than character. There is not one day where they wear orange shirts for truth and reconciliation day, and this year students won't even have the day off, like many others schools and businesses. They don't wear pink shirts for national bullying day, and they tell you how your hair should look like. I had a very poor experience, and after moving schools, I realized how poor my education was for eight years of my life. At my new school, we give back to the community by volunteering at old folks homes, whilst also focusing on academics and sports. If you want your child to graduate with the most important thing about them being their grades, this school is right for you. If you don't, and want your child's grades to be impressive, but the least impressive thing about them, I strongly wouldn't recommend this school. (I left the school in 2018)

I go to Webber. I rather remain anonymous. There are some days I realize how amazing some teachers and some days where I just want to quit school. The feelings are really mixed. While I am probably staying here until gr 12 there are some things I'd really want added. -More student awareness, please give us more voices, chances, even more clubs (student run clubs are pretty amazing) -I really love the band program -Athetics is good but I hope there will be more sports and opportunities. -Some teachers are just never avalible to help.