Maple Ridge Christian School continues to grow! Please see the staffing updates below.
Welcome
Grade 1: Lauren Green
Mrs. Green joins our school as a Grade One teacher. She has a long history with the school, as she attended the school from Kindergarten through Grade 8 and her children attend. She has 17 years of experience teaching Grade One at Langley Christian School and is looking forward to using the skills she has developed in that time in her new role at MRCS. Lauren strives to provide a nurturing, loving space with clear expectations where all students feel seen. She is excited to support the MRCS community in this role.
Grade 4: Abiah Krause
Ms. Krause joins our school as a Grade Four teacher. She has a passion for working with children and helping them develop academically, personally, and in their Christian faith. She deeply values the opportunity to share God’s word to children by teaching through a Christian lens.
MS Teacher-Grade 8 Homeroom: Montana Finn
Ms. Finn joins our school as a Grade Eight teacher as our middle school program continues to expand and has two divisions of Grade Eight. Ms. Finn views teaching as a calling grounded in faith, service, and care for the whole child. She is excited to bring her enthusiasm, creativity, and practical experience to our middle school community.
K-6 Music: Mary Guan
Miss Guan joins our school as our K-6 Music teacher. Miss Guan is excited to join our staff and looks forward to being able to share her musical knowledge with her students. She has a Masters of Education as well as a Masters of Music in Piano Performance and experience teaching elementary music in her current school. She is passionate about fostering creativity, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for music in her students.
Middle and High School Principal: Dr. Kelly Newton
Dr. Kelly Newton is honoured to be joining our school family as the new Middle School and High School Principal. Kelly’s professional background is in both public and Christian school administration, and her academic focus is on Educational Leadership. Having served as both a Vice Principal and Principal, Kelly possesses comprehensive educational experience and a strong desire to see our Middle and High Schools flourish.
Kelly has an unwavering love for Christian education and believes that our classrooms are not just spaces for academic instruction but also environments where faith and intellect are nurtured, developed, and treasured. Kelly is dedicated to ensuring every student is supported and has the tools they need to succeed, whether they are mastering a difficult concept in the classroom, learning new skills on the sports field, or blossoming in their spiritual walk. She aspires to cultivate an environment where students and staff can thrive in their God-given gifts and talents, keeping Christ at the center of all we do.
Community Events Coordinator: Emily Crase
Mrs. Crase began working as our Community Events Coordinator this Spring. She has a decade of event planning experience and a strong understanding of independent school culture and community life. She has enjoyed getting to know our community and jumped right in to organizing our annual Walkathon. She appreciates the focus our school has on community, faith formation, and family partnership and has enjoyed getting to know everyone more.
Library Technician: Alana Fitz-Gerald
Mrs. Fitz-Gerald is joining our Library Team this spring as Mrs. VandeVen goes on maternity leave. She has a diverse administrative and service background, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a focus in literature. She is excited to use her skills in this new setting to serve our student body in this role as the Library Technician.
Donor Relations Coordinator: Edwin Harris
Mr. Harris began his role in December of this school year as Mrs. Louback prepared to go on maternity leave. He has experience with a variety of organizations in the areas of marketing, fundraising, donor relations, and strategic planning. He has enjoyed getting to know our unique community and enjoys connecting and collaborating with community partners.
Educational Assistants
Stacy Lawrence
Stacy loves working with children with exceptionalities to help them reach their highest potential. Stacy has plenty of experience, including working as an EA in the Catholic School system for the last 7 years. She has a Special Needs Diploma and an Early Childhood Education License.
Tiffany Axford
Tiffany has a deep passion for supporting children and youth. She is committed to fostering Christ-centred learning. She worked as a social worker for four years. She has a Bachelor of Social Work with child welfare specialization and will complete the Education Assistant program in June. Tiffany has three children in MRCS.
Charlene Maitland
Charlene is passionate about supporting students academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. She has worked as an education assistant for over 13 years. She has a Special Education Teacher’s Assistant certification.
Evening Maintenance and Custodial Associate: Dorah Namutebi
Ms. Namutebi joined our team in April as our evening maintenance and custodial associate. She has experience with professional cleaning and landscaping for both residential and commercial settings. She enjoys working both independently and as a part of a team and is looking forward to supporting our community in this role.
Changes
Grade One: Bethany Spyksma
Miss Spyksma joined our community this year as a Grade 4 teacher. She has learned a lot in that role throughout this year and is excited to apply her learning to her new position as a Grade 1 teacher. Miss Spyksma is excited to work with students as they learn to read and write, and to see the lightbulbs go off when they make connections between sounds, letters, and words.
Elementary PHE: Rod Reid
Mr. Reid has been teaching in a variety of roles in his time at the school. He has taught high school, Grade 5, and next year will transition into the role of K-5 Physical Health Education teacher. In teaching K to 5 PHE, Mr. Reid is most excited about working across the grades connecting with the students in the subject many of them love the most. He also looks forward to helping them all improve in their athletic abilities and sportsmanship, which ultimately leads to growth in their confidence.
Elementary Principal: Sara Breedveld
Mrs. Breedveld has been serving our school in the role of prep teacher in our K-5 program for several years. As a teacher with her Bachelor of Education and 18+ years of experience, she is passionate about cultivating a nurturing, Christ-centred school culture where students are known, valued, and equipped to grow. She sees our school as a Christ-centred one that has a commitment to great teaching, inclusion, and staff growth. She is excited to build deeper connections with students, staff and parents in the MRCS community.
Elementary Student Support Coordinator: Jillian Yan
Ms. Yan began working at MRCS in September 2023 as a Grade Two teacher. Ms. Yan is known for her positive communication with parents, her organizational skills, and her ability to differentiate learning for all students to help them flourish. Those skills are key reasons that we know Ms. Yan will do an excellent job as our Elementary Student Support Coordinator for our K-5 students. Ms. Yan is looking forward to working with other staff and parents to help students feel supported and included in their unique needs.
Library Technician: Brittany VandeVen
Mrs. VandeVen will be going on maternity leave later this spring and is looking forward to this special time at home with her child. In her role as Library Technician, she has brought a calm and steady presence, and we are grateful for the care she has given to our school. We are excited for her as she begins this new season and has the opportunity to build that early connection with her newborn.
Farewell
Grade 1: Mary Owen
After nearly thirty years as a teacher at Maple Ridge Christian School, Mrs. Owen will be retiring at the end of this year. Mrs. Owen leaves behind a legacy of care for her students, as well as one of being adaptable and flexible. She has taught everything from Kindergarten to High School ELL to Middle School in her time at MRCS and has always brought a desire to see her students flourish. Mrs. Owen wants people to know that teaching at MRCS has been so much more than just a job for her, it has been a life calling. She looks forward to keeping a connection to this wonderful community as a teacher on call next year. Mrs. Owen has been a fixture of grace, compassion, and service in our community and her enthusiasm was always appreciated.
Grade 1: Carina Tanious
Mrs. Tanious has taken a position teaching at a Christian school in a different town and she will be serving there. Mrs. Tanious wants the community to know how much she has enjoyed her time at MRCS. As much as she would love to continue teaching at MRCS, her move was to support her family overall. Her time at MRCS has been so rewarding and fulfilling. She feels it has played such a pivotal role in her teaching career. She will miss her students and colleagues and is so sad to be saying farewell. We have appreciated Mrs. Tanious’s commitment to our students.
Grade 5: Jacqueline Fouad
Mrs. Fouad will be taking a one year leave of absence as she and her family explore opportunities in a new location. Mrs. Fouad has appreciated being part of a community that has helped shape her into the teacher she is today. She feels blessed that she has had the opportunity to teach so many of our wonderful students. She hopes that their story as a family brings her back to MRCS in the future.
Grade 8 FLEX: Abby Francois
Mrs. Francois joined our school this fall to serve as a FLEX support teacher in the Middle School, providing support in some courses and teaching Math 6, Bible 8, Art 8, and PHE 8. She fit right in with our middle school staff and students thanks to her enthusiasm for the work she was doing, her care for the heart of the students, and her sense of humour. Mrs. Francois is leaving to further her own education. Her deep connections formed in one short year are a testament to her character and desire to see students flourish.
K-6 Music: Barry Davison
After decades of service to our school developing a valuable music program, Mr. Davison will be leaving us for retirement at the end of this school year. He has valued the opportunity to create a program that has developed a love of music in children. He plans to continue supporting MRCS as a teacher on call, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to connect with him.
Middle and High School Counselor: Darren Miller
Mr. Miller joined our school this year in the role of Middle and High School Counselor. He came out of retirement to serve our school in this way as he felt called to use his years of experience as a counselor in the educational setting to help our school set up a program and system that supports student well-being with proper systems that are rooted in a Biblical worldview and framework. The wisdom he has shared this year has indeed accomplished that mission and he heads back into retirement knowing he served God in that way. Mr. Miller looks forward to having time to serve his family in their business and to being able to dedicate time to growing and developing his farm.
EA: Dorina Anghel
Dorina Anghel will be returning home to Europe at the end of this school year, where she looks forward to being closer to family and enjoying the warmer climate of Spain. During her time at MRCS, Mrs. Anghel has been a caring and dedicated Educational Assistant, faithfully supporting many middle school students. She has been a valued member of our community, known for her kindness and commitment to those she served. Mrs. Anghel reflects on her time at MRCS as both a blessing and a privilege. She is deeply grateful to have been part of such a caring and supportive school community and has truly cherished her time here.
Current Openings
We still have openings for the 2026-2027 school year in Grade 2 andGrade 5 as well as other areas. Interested applicants can visit our website Employment Page.