Vancouver school uses Snapchat to connect with new generation of students

Remember the days when kids would get busted for texting in class and have to hand over their phone to the vice principal?

Times have changed. While many classrooms are embracing technology in school work, a Vancouver school has gone a step further. 

Prince of Wales Secondary School is using popular social media messaging app Snapchat to connect with its students. 

Principal David Derpak said the school started using the app to send school bulletins to its students two weeks ago, after consulting with some of the school's senior students. 

More than 200 students have signed up to get snaps from the school, and he's hoping to get more followers once the school does more outreach to its 1,100 students.

Time to move from PA system?

He says it's about time the school made a change. 

"Like many schools, we also use the PA system, but the public address system was invented in 1915 during World War I, I think," he said, "And I think we've moved a little bit further."

He's also hoping to make the snaps more visually appealing by adding photos and videos. 

"Everything from volleyball tryouts to 'We won the city championship in soccer and here's a photo,' or 'A university is here and come down to the lobby to meet their representatives,'" said Derpak.

The principal said he and the students explored other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, but ultimately chose Snapchat because it doesn't allow commenting. Derpak said he's seeing more students using technology in a way that helps rather than distracts — such as putting a reminder for an upcoming test in their smartphones instead of a hardcopy agenda. 

"About 64 per cent of our students are non-native English speakers, so rather than just a bulletin being read and them perhaps not understanding everything, Snapchat allows them to take a screenshot and read it two to three times and make sure they've got all the information."