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8 DeSIGn the next 25 years Message from the HeADmAsteR of the sCHool In this report, I would like to consider three things: 1. The educational programme of our school 2. School finances 3. Enrolment and expansion in our future 1. The Educational Programme As of the 2012-2013 school year, Meadowridge is now an International Baccalaureate school with a full continuum from Junior Kindergarten through to Diploma (grade 12+). We are one of about 180 schools in the world that offer this continuum. There are many schools that offer one of the three programmes – PYP, MYP, or Diploma – as an option within a regular system, often as a form of enrichment. The advantage to continuum schools such as Meadowridge is that the entire school is oriented toward the IB, and so students are fully prepared for each of the three programmes. The curriculum is continually enriched, and great attention is paid to the Learner Profile as the children grow as well-rounded people, international in their view, and fully prepared for whatever may come in the future. In order to offer these three programmes within one school, our teachers constantly attend professional development which is world-class. Remarkably, we now have a number of teachers who are authorized to offer these workshops, and even some who are on authorization teams which inspect other schools. Smaller classes in our school ensure that close attention is paid to each child. Specialist teachers have proven to provide a strong background for every child in a number of areas. Our school is continuously monitored by the International Baccalaureate organization to make sure that each area of our school is excellent. Our grading systems are monitored in Geneva, so that we can assure parents that the marks here are based on world standards. All of our students in grade twelve go on to university, and our alumni are succeeding in many careers. We also continuously monitor our programmes to ensure that every child can succeed. We use our own testing, classroom work, and standardized testing as a basis for programme assessment. For example, we constantly do well on FSA testing. Although this is very controversial in public schools, we find it a valuable resource to check the progress of our kids. This past year, we did very well again, except that four children in grade seven seemed to have difficulty in Math problem solving in the Foundation Skills Assessment (the only area that was close to an issue amongst all areas tested in grades four and seven). As a result, we have examined our Math programme closely from grades five through seven, and intend to ensure that every child succeeds. Last year may just have been an unusual testing time, or random error, but we constantly work to ensure that every piece of data is considered and acted upon. I was pleased to note that our aggregate scores on secondary school exams were the fourth strongest in the province. We will continue to aggressively monitor our programmes to ensure an excellent education. About 90% of our students are on the Honour Roll, even though we maintain high standards. As well, we also provide many options for co-curricular participation, leadership, and service. The Gryphon Pin is awarded when a child finds balanced success in these areas. We continue to build on success in the Duke of Edinburgh programme as well, and have doubled the number of students who get a Duke of Edinburgh pin in the last few years…and this will continue. However, to really build the best programmes possible, we will need to expand our student base, so that smaller programmes can have enough students in them to be affordable. What all of this adds up to is the determination to provide our children with the best education possible. To do that, we welcome the ongoing collaboration with parents to help us reflect on our practices, and continuously improve. 2. School Finances This year was challenging for our school, as we engaged in a large tuition increase. The school had forecast a deficit budget for this year, and cost pressures meant that we had to either increase the tuition, lose money, cut programmes, or significantly increase class size. The choice made was to maintain the programmes, but increase tuition in order that the school could remain stable and provide appropriate resources. One thing that was determined was to forecast
tuition for a five-year period on a rolling basis, so that families are not surprised, and so that everyone understands the pressures on the school. The Board has undertaken to mitigate future tuition increases while maintaining programme quality, and the only way to do that is to increase the school size. It is notable that our benchmarking puts our new tuition still significantly below the cost of comparable schools, but we would like to continue to offer very good value, and continue to provide outstanding programmes at reasonable costs, regardless of what other schools may do, or how high their tuitions may become. Some good news from this year was that we did not actually run the projected deficit, due to higher than forecast enrolment and substantial contributions to the school through Annual Giving and the Golf Tournament. We always control our costs very tightly, and so our budget was stronger due mostly to increased revenue, although we also managed some savings in other areas. As well, we had a lower attrition this year than our average, so more students than ever came back, and our new registration has been very strong. We look forward to next year on that basis. We will have waiting lists at a number of grades, but we do not have room to add any more classes. As well, within the PYP, the classroom space itself limits our class size to the current levels. Nonetheless, in order to keep tuition stable and predictable in future, we will need to increase our student population. As costs are spread over more students, the cost-per-pupil goes down. For example, had we not built a school expansion when we did, the tuition would have been higher at this time, since we would have been limited to about 460-470 students, and the same programme would have then cost more. Our increased revenue from the new building worked to keep our tuition lower than it would otherwise have been, even after capital costs are factored in. We intend to work hard to keep tuition reasonable, but that will mean more expansion so that we can take more students. The level that we have established at which we can get the best economies, and offer even better programmes, is about 800 students from junior kindergarten to grade twelve (Diploma Programme). 3. Enrolment and Expansion There are two reasons for expanding the student population. The first is so that we can offer more programmes, and boost our current programmes such as music, art, drama, athletics, and multiple course offerings. The second is to ensure that these programmes are offered at a reasonable tuition. As noted, the only reason that we did not run a deficit this year was because of growth, and that growth has also allowed us to offer more courses than we could have previously. The combination of more choice at contained costs means that we can offer greater value to families. If we do not grow, then tuition will grow more quickly than if we do grow. Expansion lowers tuition costs, as it has in the past. However, our current facility can only support one more class, and even that would be challenging. We are short of gym space as well, and need more practice areas for a variety of activities. If we build, we need to build in stages so that each is economic, and pays for itself through student growth. Any expansion will also require the approval of the Agricultural Land Commission, since the school is built on agricultural land. Currently, with the land that we have, we are capped at 600 students, so any expansion will mean acquiring more land as well. The land in Maple Ridge is relatively affordable right now, but we do not think that it will stay that way. We know that 240th street will become busier and busier, and even now there are houses being built all around us, so more land will also serve to buffer the school from future community growth. Many schools are now surrounded by houses, or shopping centres, or other development, and have become very hemmed in, and so land purchase will help us to buffer the school, provide more space for the children and the means for school expansion in order to promote greater value. The Board is currently working on this land acquisition so as to secure the future of the school. Concurrently with acquiring more land, the Board has instructed the Administration to provide a plan for school expansion which is staged, and which provides strong cost triggers such that each stage of expansion has a strong return on investment, and so that a single generation of families does not bear the cost of any part of the expansion. That is, each stage of the expansion should pay for itself over time, and should mitigate tuition rather than increasing it. We are currently constructing such a plan, and aligning it with the strategic financial plan so that we can predict with some accuracy what the impact of each stage of expansion will be. In the end, we plan to expand our school, both in land and in facility, so as to offer better programmes at reasonable cost, both for now and for the future. Conclusion We have grown into a school which offers the best international programme available, with small classes and experienced teachers providing a closely monitored and excellent education. We need to move forward so as to continue to offer very good value for these programmes, and that will mean that we grow our population of students. This expansion means that we need to purchase land, and build in such a way that costs are both contained and distributed across generations of students. In this way, we can provide our students with the best education possible at a reasonable cost, both now and in the future. Hugh Burke, Headmaster June 2012 Annual Report 9
Page 1 and 2: Meadowridge School Society June 201
Page 3 and 4: tAble of Contents 4 Board of Govern
Page 5 and 6: Message from the CHAiRmAn of the bo
Page 7: “Our school has quietly come of a
Page 11 and 12: Two greenhouses Tools & equipment f
Page 13 and 14: Contributions to AwARDs and sCHolAR
Page 15 and 16: “We are truly more than just a sc
Page 17 and 18: Report from the FinAnCe Committee T
Page 19 and 20: FinAnCiAls As of June 30, 2012 stAt
Page 21 and 22: Report from the CommuniCAtions Comm
Page 23 and 24: oard of govenors Citizenship and sc
Page 25 and 26: gryphon pins - grades 6 to 12 bRonZ
Page 27 and 28: Design the next 25 years... June 20

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