Edmonds is an elementary school in Burnaby that serves some 350 students. The children hail from 48 countries. Half its students are ESL; one in eight are refugees. Many of the newcomers share the bond of fear and trauma: They have been hit by bullets, fled war on foot and volunteered starvation to help their parents save money.

Their stories provide Edmonds with a rich, but complicated, landscape. If reading and writing are the golden standards by which student success is measured, then Edmonds has earned the unenviable reputation as one of the worst-performing schools in the province — and the worst in the middle-class suburb of Burnaby.

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