Discover Heritage

Heritage in Schools

Our program includes a Heritage Study Guide, Field Trip Grants, and Professional Development support for educators

Support this Program

Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Heritage in Schools Program includes our Heritage Study Guide that is full of helpful resources for teaching about local heritage, our popular Field Trip Grants, and Professional Development support for educators.

The Heritage in Schools Program aims to:

  • Increase students’ and educators’ awareness and knowledge of local heritage places and history by providing learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom.
  • Encourage students and teachers to engage with Vancouver’s diverse heritage places, and contribute to meaningful discussions around their histories and future legacies.
  • Support the professional development of educators in order to promote place-based heritage education in Vancouver public schools.  We do this by collaborating with educators and students to develop accessible resources and self-directed inquiry-based projects, and through support of Vancouver Heritage Fairs.

Thank You to Our Project Partners

The Christopher Foundation

Andrew Mahon Foundation

Laura Saimoto

Shigeo Saimoto

GMR Foundation

Friends of VHF

Vancouver Historical Society

In Kind Sponsor

Starbucks
COBS Bread Main St

A photo taken underneath the Granville Street Bridge. credit J Quan

Pro-D for Educators | Places That Matter: How to Look at Cities – Granville Island

Wednesday, January 15, 9am-3pm
Granville Island
$100 + tax

Places That Matter ‘How to Look at Cities” on Wednesday, January 15th 2025 from 9am-3pm at Granville Island. We will explore the area’s development, from sən̓aʔqʷ/Sen̓áḵw to heavy industry and today’s continued renewal of CMHC lands as Granville Island. John Atkin, civic historian will lead a morning and afternoon walking tour, along with guest speakers. We continue the conversations of place-based inquiry explorations and broadening the stories and cultures represented in public spaces. You will have the opportunity to explore this place on your own for lunch and through a scavenger hunt activity. The day will end with reflections, resources and field trip ideas.

Register Here View Details

Join VHF for our Places that Matter Pro-D, a full-day educators Pro-D workshop delving into how we look at cities. Please register by January 14th!

📆 Overview of the Day: Participants may encounter a variety of terrain including gravel, stairs, slopes. Further details, including information on parking and transit, will be provided to registrants closer to the event date.

Please note this is a mask-friendly event.

⛄Weather: This full-day session will take place mostly outdoors. It will occur rain, shine or snow so please dress for the weather!

📝Supplies Needed: Weather-appropriate clothes, a pen and/or pencil, a hard surface to write on, and mobile or screen with Wi-Fi or data is optional.

🍎Food: Please note that you are responsible for your own food throughout the day. We encourage you to buy snacks and lunch by supporting the many the wonderful local businesses that make Granville Island unique.
Please note:

There is an opportunity to join the VHF team and John Atkin for lunch at ‘Bridges: Tap and Barrel’, Educators must indicate whether or not they would like to participate in this lunch when they purchase tickets.

Lunch is not included in your registration cost

Registration closes on January 14th at 5 pm or when sold out.

Heritage in Schools 2024/25

This will be the second of three unique Pro-D days in different neighbourhoods in Vancouver based on the original three municipalities of the city- Vancouver, Point Grey and South Vancouver. The Pro-Ds will focus on how we can look at cities through the lens of hidden heritage and evolving neighbourhood stories.

About the Speaker:

John Atkin is a civic historian, author and heritage consultant. He offers an interesting and offbeat insight into the city’s architecture, history and neighbourhoods through a variety of programming. These combine his interests in urban planning and development, a love of architecture and a fascination for the curious.

Special Guests- TBC

Professional Development Day (“Pro-D Day”) sessions are intended for current educators focusing on enriching their K-12 lesson plans/programming. VHF recognizes educators as a diverse field and not exclusive to district school teachers. We welcome all those whose field of work or employment/volunteer position impacts the education of K-12 children and youth. Please contact jessica@vancouverheritagefoundation.org if you have any questions regarding our Pro-D sessions. If you are not a current educator but are interested in the event, please sign up for the event waitlist.

Photo Credit: J Quan

Resources for Educators

As our Heritage in Schools program grows, we have created a new digital space designed for educators interested in engaging with VHF produced resources, from study guides, videos, map guides and more.

In addition to the Heritage Study Guide, the Places that Matter Study Guide (currently in development) will be a digital hub of learning resources that encourage site-specific and virtual explorations of the PTM sites and increase awareness about our city’s diverse heritage places.

We are also working on creating a Heritage Education in Action page for educators to share ways to connect local heritage to curriculum with examples of local, place-based learning projects.

Learn more

Professional Development Support

We are offering the following Professional Development Days for 2024-25:

  • October 25th 9am-3pm: Places That Matter | How We Look at Cities – Downtown (registration opens Sept 18th)
  • November 22nd 9am-3pm: Strathcona School and Neighbourhood Explorations (through VSB)
  • January 15th 9am-3pm: Places That Matter | How We Look at Cities – Granville Island (registration opens November 2024)
  • February 14th 9am-3pm: Places That Matter | How We Look at Cities – South Vancouver (registration opens December 2024)

If you wish to invite VHF to present to your staff or class, arrange a walking tour of your school and neighbourhood, or to be on the Professional Development Days email list, please contact: jessica@vancouverheritagefoundation.org

Past Pro-D for Educators Sessions

  • February 16th – Exploring Black Histories: Fran Morrison, BC Black History Awareness Society on Black Histories of British Columbia: Explore-Discover-Learn-Share’, Joy Russell, Writer, Poet, Artist and MA Student at SFU entitled Swimming Against the Tide: The Archive, Regulation and Resistance in Aquatic Recreation at Crystal Pool and ‘Brown Skin Beach’ and City of Vancouver Archives. False Creek Ferries to lunch at Juke’s Fried Chicken. Walking Tours with Hogan’s Alley Society and John Atkin.
  • April 22, 2024 – A Day in Historic Punjabi Market with South Asian Stories. Sunset Community Centre, Joe Wong. Punjabi Market Collective’s mural and history walking tour with Jag Nagra and Jas Lolly. Lunch buffet at Himalaya Restaurant with Manny Pabla. Afternoon sessions: Gulzar Nanda, Hi-Class Jeweller and Punjabi Market Collective. Jag and Jaz on 2nd Ave Gurdwara Kits, Komagata Maru and Paldi. Anu Chouhan, animator and illustrator
  • October 25, 2024 – Places That Matter | How We Look at Cities – Downtown
  • February 17  – Family & Stories: Vietnamese-Canadian Stories from Vancouver’s Little Saigon with Andy Pham, Ba Le, Anh and Chi,  H.P. Fraser, Chrystal Phan and Liz Crocker, Royal BC Museum
  • April 24 – Kuwentuhan (storytelling) on Fraser Street’s Filipino Connections presented with Mubuhay House Society, Leonora C. Angeles, Sammie Jo Rumbaua, Joseph Planta, Shameless Buns, O’Taho and Mable Elmore’s Constituency Office, Migrante BC, and retired teachers from Tupper Secondary
  • October 20 – Chinatown Connections with Chinese Canadian Museum exhibit and heritage tour, and Indigenous/Chinese-Canadian workshop and walking tours by Larry Chin and John Atkin. Lunch from Tato’s Kitchen and tarts from New Town Bakery.
  • February 18 – Special walking tour for Mackenzie Elementary staff – neighbourhood and Mountain View Cemetery
  • April 25– Virtual Session with Musqueam Elder Larry Grant. ‘Discover Chinatown’ with Chinatown Storytelling Centre, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, BC Dragon Boat Society, and Chinese Canadian Museum
  • October 21 – Hastings Park with the Japanese Canadian Hastings Park Interpretive Centre Society, Nikkei National Museum, John Atkin, Fujiya and the PNE
  • February 12 –Place-Based Learning: Inquiry & Connections with History & Heritage (VHF)
  • April 26– Virtual Session full day:  John Atkin, Dr. Leonora Angeles, Aynsley Wong, Lama Mugabo I Dream Library, and Jeff Chiba Stearns. Musqueam Language and Culture Department speakers: Vanessa Campbell, Courtenay Gibson and Mack Paul.
  • October 22– Hidden Heritage with VHF and John Atkin: looking at your school and school communities, neighbourhood context and making observations.
  • February 14– Vancouver Japanese Language School- JC history with Carolyn Nakagawa of Nikkei Museum and walking tour of Paueru-Gai area with Laura Saimoto. Lunch at Dosanko. Walking tour of Gastown with John Atkin.
  • October 23– Virtual: Step Outside and Get Online – Connecting Educators with Local Heritage and History, Speakers John Atkin, Vancouver educators sharing resources and projects, VSB Head TL, SFU Bill Reid Gallery curator, Historic Joy Kogawa House and Paneet Singh, playwright.

Field Trip Grants

Field Trip Grant applications open on September 18th and closes on December 6th, 2024. Please visit the Field Trips Grants page for additional information. If you are new to the program or have any questions about the field trip criteria, please reach out to jessica@vancouverheritagefoundation.org as soon as possible.

Learn More