A Better Tomorrow, Together
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RESPECT | MANNERS | TRY YOUR BEST A BETTER TOMORROW, TOGETHER. ANNUAL REPORT 2019–2020 CONTENTS MESSAGES StEP 05 The Chair, KCS Board of Governors 38 Growing Entrepreneurship StEP by StEP The Head of School EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM STORIES 40 Curriculum Night 2019 09 Our Journey Continues at KCS Senior School Re-Entry Task Force KCS At-Home Learning Program 4 DOORS HIGHLIGHTS 42 Academics We are a resilient, positive school community, ALUMNI Arts committed to overcoming challenges, while always Athletics 15 Alumni in Action Citizenship keeping an eye on the future. KCS Working Committee 20th Year Reunion Alumni Milestones GRADS Our staff, students, parents and Our Four Doors to Learning program inspires 57 Messages from 2020 Valedictorians alumni are united in ensuring the our students to find their passions in the areas of SPECIAL EVENTS academics, arts, athletics and citizenship. We are a sustainability of KCS, even in the leader among independent schools around well- 20 Welcome Back BBQ FINANCIALS most difficult times, just as we have being for students and staff. Widespread student Humbertown Park leadership, extensive engagement in service, Orange Shirt Day 60 2019–2020 Financial Report always done for the past 32 years. student-led entrepreneurship, coding and notable Terry Fox Run student growth, as learners, artists, athletes and Town Halls citizens fuels our passionate community. Grandparents and Special Friends Day PARENT NETWORK Embrace learning, think flexibly, take responsible risks, and make the Together, we are responding to our changing, 62 Updates world better are four of our twenty- uncertain times with flexibility, optimism, empathy SPEAKERS & AUTHORS Key Highlights and cohesiveness. And through it all, we instill six habits that help our students to our three school rules: Respect, Manners and Try 32 Robyn Meagher and Jason Dorland reach their full potential. At KCS, we Your Best. Alan Cross BOARDS & COMMITTEES Tracy Schmitt recognize that established practices Kingsway College School students continue to Lynn Lyons 64 Board of Governors along with teamwork, positivity and shine and work collaboratively as a team, even Chris Vollum Discusses Digital Intelligence Governance Committee through the most challenging times, with the help Susan Mazan Finance Committee community have value, and today’s of teachers, staff, families and alumni. We strive to Officer Nevills Visits Grade Six Advancement Committee students need that and more. make a difference in our community and beyond. Wab Kinew Strategic Planning Committee Kenneth Oppel Senior Campus Committee 2 | Kingsway College School Annual Report 3 FROM THE CHAIR KCS BOARD OF GOVERNORS Who could have imagined the unprecedented things that have happened this past year since our children left the school for March Break. As we continue to deal with this pandemic and find a new normal in our homes and professional lives, I assure you that our KCS Board has been in continuous communication, working closely with Derek Logan, Head of School, Senior Administration and faculty in dealing with COVID-19 as it evolves. I want to thank all of our families for contributing As a Board, we fully support and are grateful for to an exceptional community that is ready to offer the outstanding work that has been accomplished anything they can to make it possible for KCS to to date. become greater every year and let initiative soar. Each day, our children are making the world a In spite of all our successes, we continue to self- better place. As a community, we continue to be as evaluate, pursue excellence and find room for committed and passionate as we always have been. improvement. The whole school has been hard at Our Founders were a small but dedicated group work for the last year in dealing with the effects of who, with a lot of hard work and their own money, the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to stay on got this school off the ground. Our parents, alumni, track and forge ahead. grandparents and alumni parents continue to be actively involved in our community. On behalf of the Board of Governors, thank you for your ongoing support of KCS. It is my great privilege to serve as the Chair of the Board of Governors. I invite you to continue reading our Annual Together, we inspire Report with the theme of “Getting comfortable being uncomfortable” to see more of the great our students to accomplishments from our students goodness, to make and community. BRONWEN EVANS the world a better Chair, KCS Board of Governors MESSAGES place, each day. 4 | Kingsway College School Annual Report 5 FROM KCS HEAD OF SCHOOL Since COVID-19 turned our lives upside-down back in March, I have felt like a captain of a submarine. Everything that I took for granted about running a school became anything but comfortable. All of it needed to be re-thought, re-planned, and re-invented. We all had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and quickly. Getting comfortable being uncomfortable comes ability to regularly connect with our students was from an article I read by an American nuclear the hardest part of this whole situation for me. At the submarine officer. The reason submarines work is end of the day, it’s all about connecting with people. very simple. It’s because of teamwork. Captains Every individual in our community matters, and are only as good as their team of officers, sailors, maintaining that sense of connection between all of and support staff onshore. Our KCS submarine has us at KCS has been a priority this past year. been successful this past year for many of the same reasons we’ve been successful in the past; we’ve I know that I’ll never actually be a captain of a all been supported by an amazing community of submarine (I was in a Soviet submarine once, students, faculty, staff, Board members, volunteers, but didn’t enjoy the tight quarters given my size). and families. This experience in the last half of this school year has shown me that becoming comfortable with Navigating choppy waters is a lot As soon as I realized that we would have to close being uncomfortable is not just a survival tactic the school, I knew that everyone on our team would for submariners. It’s also a good reminder that easier if you’ve got teamwork, be ready to jump in, help out, and support each navigating choppy waters is a lot easier if you’ve other. That’s because I’ve seen it happen again got teamwork, positivity, and a strong community positivity, and a strong community and again throughout my years at KCS. These are on your side. intense times. They have reminded me how lucky on your side.” I am to be surrounded by such a great community As we did throughout this past year, I’m confident of people. we’ll get through this together while maintaining our tradition of excellence, one step at a time, and That includes our parents and families as well. we’ll keep working as a supportive community in Just like our faculty and staff, our families rolled partnership until we get to the other side. up their sleeves and helped us make it through this experience. I’m also very proud of how With respect and appreciation, hard we worked as a school to give families the opportunities to ask questions or raise concerns, as DEREK LOGAN their experiences at home gave us valuable insights Head of School and feedback that helped inform our thinking and decision making. In many ways, not having that 6 | Kingsway College School Annual Report 7 THE JOURNEY CONTINUES WITH KCS SENIOR SCHOOL We could not have been prouder this Taking the students to our new site and introducing January to announce the opening of them to the endless learning that’s within a minute’s walk was a highlight. our Senior School to the community. The best part of the announcement KCS now has two great campuses which our Junior and future Senior School students can now embrace is that we can at last share all the as their neighbourhoods. There are so many exciting project details. possibilities. The learning has just begun for us all. Here’s a sample of how students said they could The Senior School website shares our new location use this outdoor space for learning: and many of the special features we have in mind for enriched student learning. Our new Senior • Poetry and descriptive writing School e-newsletter has been getting steady sign- ups. We encourage every interested follower to sign • Building a working model of the Stormwater up on our website so you can be sure to learn about Management Facility our ongoing progress and any important dates • Learning to sail coming up. • Getting permission from the city to create French Earlier in the year, our grade 6 and 7 students met language versions of the many signs describing with our architect, Oliver Beck, and participated in the area discussion around design. We arranged a short trip • Painting and sketching to our site so they could see the building from the outside and get to know the nearby greenspace. • Hosting our “Wake Up With the Arts” events on They saw the Etobicoke Stormwater Management the boardwalk Facility, with ducks and tagged swans swimming in • Calculating the volume of water in the the frigid water, the Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat, Stormwater Facility and the Home Garden that was distinctly designed • Investigating the history of Air India Flight 182, to support various species of butterflies in their the history of the neighborhood (including the different life cycle stages. Mr.