The Appleby of the Future

In a recent post, I provided an update on where we are with our strategic planning process. My wife advises that I can sometimes to a bit too process oriented … so, it wouldn’t be surprising if many are saying, “Enough about the planning process and questions, what are your answers?”

First, any truly great school is able to have enduring quality because a team-based approach to leadership. While some of the content comes from me, much stems from the insights of my colleagues on the Leadership Team, and there are significant elements that have been generated from the thoughts of faculty, staff, students, parents and alumni. For some of the most significant elements, there is a broad consensus across the Appleby community, so no one person “owns” creation of the idea, although, once approved, we are responsible for making them reality.

My colleague, our Head of School and Vice Principal Katrina Samson coined a group of four words to describe the essence of Appleby: Excellence, Breadth, Innovation and Caring. The combination of a required breadth of experiences at high quality levels describes the principles underlying the Appleby Diploma and the rigorous programme that our students experience. Our view is that this blend of breadth and excellence, while challenging, is the right preparation for our graduates to excel in the future (as described in these posts.)

Innovation, while describing one of the attributes we hope for in our graduates, is primarily about the nature of Appleby over the last few decades. There are lots of good schools. Appleby is one of the very best in Canada because of a persistent drive to innovate – be that in the integration of technology into the learning experience, our leadership role in global education, the longstanding role of outdoor education, the Grade 8 World Languages course (where all Grade 8s learn the basics of Spanish, German, Arabic and Mandarin), the Centennial Scholars Programme, or other initiatives. We believe that for Appleby to take the next step in our development, we must have a persistent focus on innovation. While the large, school-wide initiatives are what many think of when talking about innovation at Appleby, just as important will be smaller scale initiatives – those that relate to one or a few courses or co-curriculars or units within the school. This is when a culture of innovation – where faculty and staff are encouraged to think and act creatively – becomes more important than the Principal or other leaders been seen as the primary generator of innovative ideas.

Caring is also very much one of those attributes that we both seek to support in our students and graduates, as well as being an essential characteristic of school culture. Especially in schools that are rigorous and high challenge, the importance of school cultural is paramount. I have been in too many conversations where people debate the benefits various curriculi, without recognizing that the nature of how a faculty member delivers an economics course and the dynamic within the course is far more important than the content differences between AP, IB and Ontario economics. Part of great culture is best typified by the credo of a Roxbury Latin. It is a remarkable school in Boston that has long had as its mantra to “know and love” each student. When visiting there in 2000, I was struck by how the receptionist was speaking to us about this commitment as passionately as one of the Deans. Our willingness to know students, to ensure that they feel strong connected with our community, and to support them as they deal with a challenging program must be one of our greatest strengths. Caring is as important as breadth + excellence.

If Breadth + Excellence, Innovation and Caring are the essence of Appleby, then the next key questions was what should our graduates look like. At this stage, we have identified 12 key attributes that we would like each student to possess by the time of graduation. Together and with the first trait of self-awareness as the foundation, they will provide young people with the most important tools to “be major contributors to and valued members of their  … communities”.

·       Self-awareness

·       Collaboration

·       Adaptability/resilience

·       Communication

·       Creativity

·       Integrity

·       Caring

·       Courage

·       Leadership

·       Global outlook

·       Embracing diversity

·       Critical thinking

We believe that the robust, broad, mandatory programme should still be at the core of developing these attributes – including rigorous academics, athletics, arts, service, outdoor education, boarding, and the exploration of spiritual and values.

The draft plan proposes that we build on this strong core with numerous additions and improvements to these activities. A few examples of these include:

• Introducing a series of additional curricular and co-curricular elements dealing with areas such as design tech, entrepreneurship, initiatives that combine creativity and service, and media marketing
• Implementing the AP Capstone Course
• The quantum enhancement of our athletic, arts and all-community programmes by the construction of a new facility that will provide 3 new gyms, arts performance space, a centralize fitness facility, and a proper seated school assembly location, in addition to some specialized space
• Expanding formal leadership development programnes
• Enhancing what is already a strong boarding experience with focus on weekend programmes, cross-cultural integration, and life skills development
• Introducing a wider range of career preparation experiences, especially for older students
• Looking forward to the outcome of the review of student mental wellness being undertaken by Tom Karcz and a volunteer team of about 50 faculty, and implementing their recommendations. This is one of the great positive waves in education (and society more generally.) In our case, I anticipate this will focus very much on socio-emotional health and the development of student’s understanding of their own learning styles and needs, providing them with tools to assist with their learning, and supporting the specific needs 

Another theme in the draft plan is to build on our leadership position in the areas of global and outdoor education and extend that into being the national  leader in experiential education overall. (Experiential education in one of those popular expressions in the sector. It means learning by doing rather than just studying. Traditionally, outdoor and global education have been the most widespread examples of experiential education.) Some examples of specific strategies include:

• Making a meaningful international experience a requirement of the Appleby Diploma
• Enhancing global and national experiences for middle school students
• Using technology, introducing a wide range of collaborations between specific classes of students from around the world
• Introducing team-based, multi-disciplinary problem-solving units that require analytical, synthesizing, collaborative, creative, and communication skills
• Enhance consolidating/reflection activities such as Presentations on Learning (POLs) and Grade 9 ASCENT
• Fully incorporate experiential elements across the curriculum
• Continuing to improve and refine our outdoor experiential program at the McLaughlin Outdoor Campus based in Temagami

These are just a few examples of a few dozen strategies and working tactics that we are proposing. If you have thoughts on these or other ideas you think should be incorporated, please send me a note at ivannostrand@appleby.on.ca.

Next up, I will be talking about the role of outstanding people – students, faculty and staff – and resources as the most important commonalities in great education, as well as how they feature in Appleby’s plans.