Celebrating Excellence - Meadowridge School

Celebrating Excellence
Our halls were overflowing with outstanding student art
work, which indicated that our children have developed
wonderful visual literacy, and are able to express nuanced
thought through a dynamic and growing visual and graphic
vocabulary, which is growing in importance and use due
to the growth of digital communication. This visual literacy
is enhanced through the growing use of personal computers
from about grade five on; in fact, it is because of this
growing use that the school has now mandated the purchase
and use of computers from grade six and up for next year.
We have also moved to become one of few schools in
Canada to be a licensed Microsoft IT Academy, which will
provide great opportunities for our children in years to come.
The digital revolution may be changing the landscape of
learning and business, but things such as confidence,
interpersonal skills, focus, courage, and imagination continue
to be foundations upon which our children can build, and
are brought out not only in academic classes, but also, and
importantly, through the performing arts and athletics. As I
noted last year, we are building our athletic program
consciously over five years, and last year was the first of
those building years. I am pleased to note that our teams
have done very well this past year - notably in soccer, water
polo, and basketball - and we will continue to build on
these emerging strengths. We continue to push for even
greater participation, and for greater achievement. Our
performing arts programs this year have been exceptional
in number and quality, and include performances at each
IB level, each of which was terrific for the development of
our children, and terrific entertainment. Our graduation
students provided our first rock opera - RENT - as well as
a remarkably enjoyable production of "The Comedy of
Errors". Both stretched our students to do their best work,
and both incorporated dramatic risks, excellent acting, and
top production values. The musical quality of RENT was
also outstanding. The MYP production of "Into the Woods"
was also just excellent, as was the PYP production of "Pirates".
In addition, the many musical nights, concerts, and productions
enhanced our community, provided enjoyable evenings,
and developed our children well.
This year was the first full year of occupying our new facility,
and the whole community enjoyed the wonderful spaces,
facilities, and programs that can now be offered. We also
enlarged the library, doubled the size of our fitness facility,
added another athletic area on the old stage, and enjoyed
the hugely expanded parking lot. Notably, we are now
completing the final stages of our campus plan by adding
a new, full-sized lit field. Our children are eagerly anticipating
being able to use this sand-based natural grass field, which
will now provide the space for all of our teams to practice
and to play games.
Our teaching staff has done a wonderful job for us in the
past, and I am pleased that all will be returning, except
for those who were only hired to fill in during a maternity
leave. Our administrative team has also done a great job
this past year. I am also pleased to note that at the time of
writing this report - early August - it appears that our school
will open with another record number of students. Given
the difficult economic times, this is a testament to the
commitment of our parents and children, as well as to the
value provided by our school.
This coming year, we will welcome an arms-length criteriabased
accreditation by the Canadian Educational Standards
Association (CESI), which is highly regarded both nationally
and internationally. We have worked all this year to prepare
a description of everything in our school, and, in November,
a team of about twelve educators from across Canada will
spend seven days going through our school, interviewing
parents and students and alumni and teachers and Board
members and - well, everybody. They will go through our
policies and practices, examine our facilities, look at our
finances and admissions, and review our academic and
co-curricular programs. At the end of that week, they will
gather to write an extensive report which will be provided
to our Board, outlining strengths and any areas of concern,
and providing recommendations. We are anticipating this
eagerly, as it will be a chance to really look at our school
in depth, and make it even better. Currently, only three
schools in B.C. are, like us, members of CESI, and it is just
another external indicator of quality for our parents and
our Board. As well, we have also spent the past year
preparing for two other external accreditations by the
International Baccalaureate Association (IB) which will also
happen in the next eighteen months.
Finally, I would like to take a moment to thank our Board
members, all of whom have devoted many, many hours to
ensuring the quality and health of our school. The quality
of an independent school is directly attributable to the
quality of its Board. We are fortunate to have an excellent
one, and so I think that our school is in very capable hands.
I also want to especially note the commitment, skill, and
ability of our Board Chair, John Becker. To be a Board
Chair is a demanding and often thankless task, and John
- in his first year as Board Chair - has demonstrated both
the humility and ability which characterize outstanding
Chairs. Thank you, Mr. Becker.
Mr. Hugh Burke
Headmaster
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