Bernice MacNaughton High School

Bernice MacNaughton High School runs on a two-semester arrangement. Most courses run on a full-semester basis, but some grade nine specialty courses (e.g. physical education, visual arts) are half-semester courses. MacNaughton offers students a wide variety of courses, from aviation technology to Mandarin, as well as five Advanced Placement courses: Calculus AB, Chemistry, English Literature and Composition, French Language, and Psychology. Classes commence at 08:45 (AST) and end at 15:30 AST.[12] Students take five sixty-minute courses every day, with an hour-long break between the third and fourth classes and seven- or eight-minute breaks between all other classes.[12]

In 2008, BMHS implemented a thirty-minute directed learning period, known colloquially as "Period 6", in order to allow fellow Clan members to jointly study, work on homework, or seek extra help. During the 2009–2010 school year, the directed learning period was moved to 10:54 AST, between the second and third period. In the 2012–2013 school year, the directed learning period was rotated throughout the day as a function of the day of the week. The directed learning period was removed in the 2013–2014 school year.[12]

Upon arrival at MacNaughton, students are automatically and randomly sorted into one of four houses called "Clans", in reference to the Highland Scottish clans Campbell, MacDonald, MacLeod, and Stewart. Eight twelfth grade students are appointed to lead each Clan.[13]

MacNaughton offers a wide selection of sports clubs and organized teams at the junior varsity and senior varsity, male and female, levels. These vary from year to year and include:

Bernice MacNaughton has captured New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association (NBIAA) sports titles in 12 man football (2004, 2006–2008, 2011), girls' field hockey (2005), AAA junior girls' basketball (2005–2006), AAA senior girls' basketball (2007), junior men's wrestling (2005), and AAA senior boys' volleyball (2007).[14]

The BMHS Bike Club [sic] was an after-school program where members built custom motorcycles and bicycles.[15] In 2008, they completed a custom bobber motorcycle, dubbed "Betty".[16]

The BMHS breakfast club serves a free breakfast to students on school mornings.[17]

BMHS's intermediate and senior Reach for the Top teams compete in provincial tournaments.[18]

The school newspaper has undergone frequent name changes. The latest edition, entitled The Highlander, was published in 2014.[19]

BMHS's students' union consists of thirteen positions:

Membership in the school's Student Government is mandatory, and students are admitted as ordinary members of the Government upon payment of the school's nominal tuition fee.[21] Elections for the upcoming year are held on the first Friday after May Day (May 1) of the previous year. The Senior Treasurer is chosen via interview. Grade Representatives are selected in October.

The annual BMHS yearbook is entitled "ceilidh" (Irish pronunciation: [ˈkʲʰeːlʲiː]).[22]

Bernice MacNaughton has performed fourteen musicals and one collection of Broadway show tunes:

• Oliver! (2003)
• Nunsense (2003)
• The Sound of Music (2004)
• Nunsense 2: The Second Coming (2005)
• Broadway meets the Bard, a collection of Broadway songs and Shakespeare excerpts (December 2005)
• Grease (2006)
• West Side Story (April 18–21, 2007)
• Crazy for You (April 23–26, 2008)
• Bye Bye Birdie (April 22–25, 2009)[23]
• White Christmas (December 9–12, 2009)
• The Phantom of the Opera (April 6–8, 2011)[24]
• The Drowsy Chaperone (December 7–10, 2011)[25]
• Grease (2013)[26]
• Sympathy Jones (November 20–23, 2013)[27]
• Carrie: The Musical (November 26–29, 2014)[28]
• Shrek The Musical (2015)
• Mamma Mia! (2018)

Bernice MacNaughton has presented several dramatic productions:

• Lord of the Flies (2001)
• Our Town (November 28–December 1, 2007)
• Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, an original composition consisting of a series of ten-minute plays (November 2008)
• Scenes in the Key of Life, an original composition consisting of a series of ten-minute plays and musical performances (2010)
• Ralph's Basement, an original composition (June 3–5, 2010)
• Alien Grunge Love (2014)[19]