School Tour
Our Vision
Dr. Roberta Bondar School welcomes and honours the uniqueness of each student. We acknowledge the gifts and talents each child brings to the learning environment and will support them in reaching their personal best. We will create an environment of acceptance and belonging and expect each child to be a respectful and responsible member of our community. We recognize the contributions of all and celebrate their creativity, innovation and engagement in the learning process.
Through the design of tasks, the staff will nurture curiosity, a sense of wonder and the ability to inquire into the world of the students. We will personalize learning to ensure all students are able to participate, proceed and progress in their learning. Learning for students will be authentic, relevant and meaningful.
Dr. Roberta Bondar School will be a place where the community comes together to ensure the success of each child. We embrace the voice of the community and encourage staff, students and parents to be active, passionate and participants in learning.
Our Logo and Motto
We incorporated our vision statement and the conversations we had with staff, students and parents to come up with the shooting star as the logo for Dr. Roberta Bondar School. We felt the ‘central star’ was a metaphor for our school and the ‘stars of the tail’ represented all of the students who presently attend our school and those who have yet to come. We also felt the stars represented our many questions, innovations, inspirations and sheer imagination.
Inquire, Innovate, Inspire . . . Imagine . . .
The four words of the motto depict the essence of the vision of Dr.Roberta Bondar School. As we honour their curiosity, sense of wonder and the desire to inquire into their world, we will help students to imagine possibilities. Through creative, innovative thinking, our students will be engaged in the learning process. They will be innovators - problem finders, solution seekers and inspired by the love of learning.
We will help them to see the magic and power of multiple literacies, the elegance of mathematics, the importance of respect and stewardship of the environment, the diversity of the local and global community, and the grace of the arts and to imagine that anything is possible!
Our Building
Dr. Roberta Bondar School opened for the first day of classes on Jan. 3, 2017. The school has hallways to various wings, connected by “the Launch Pad”, our gathering place for students. The classroom environments offer space, flexibility and lighting. Many classrooms are divided by a retractable wall with writable surfaces and some are adjoined with “breakout spaces” for students who need a quiet space to work.
There are specialized rooms for projects, maker stations, art, science, literacy and music. The music room has a distinctive shape, carpeted floor, tube-lights providing sunlight from the roof, sound baffles and a great variety of musical instruments. The gym has an intriguing floor surface, “sporting” multiple lines and rubber-like material for shock absorption and sound minimization. The distinctive stage pulls out from the bottom and when not in use, blends into “the mountains” depicted on the walls. The wall tiles, which help to absorb the sound, reflect the three main colours of the school - green, blue and purple. The Learning Commons has many books, drawer shelves, incredible circle lights, large windows representing the mountains and a circulation desk made from the cross-section of a tree.
Our Name
On Sep. 17, 2015, Dr. Roberta Bondar School was the name selected for the new Aspen Woods elementary school in the community of Strathcona Park.
Dr. Roberta Bondar - (b. 1945 - ) As a renowned public speaker Bondar shares her expertise as an astronaut, physician, scientific researcher, photographer, author and environment interpreter with people all over the world. Bondar made history as the first Canadian female astronaut to go into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1992. She was also the first neurologist to go into space. The Dr. Roberta Bondar Foundation is dedicated to education and advancing knowledge of the environment in a way that stimulates interest, excitement, creativity and responsibility by infusing art in science and science in art. Bondar has earned numerous awards and distinctions during her illustrious career, including Officer of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Medal, induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and into the International Women's Forum's Hall of Fame, and 24 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American Universities.
Learn more about Dr. Roberta Bondar on her website.
