Torch - Fall/Winter 2019-20

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ANNUAL REPORT

Principal’s Message

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When you are values-based and community-driven, it is hard to go too far wrong.

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Discovering the Excellence, Innovation and Joy at Havergal By Catherine Misson S ince beginning my tenure this past August, I’ve been

I believe strongly in excellence in education and embracing innovation, while injecting joy in all we do. Our girls are serious about their academic work and their future plans. They need humour and the support of others to wrap around them as they strive toward success. In the first week of school, for example, the Food Services team worked with me to set up a good old Aussie BBQ on Ratcliffe Field, with sausages and tomato sauce, just like we eat back at home. Seeing our students gather in their Houses, relax with each other and their teachers and take in the glorious sunshine as they smiled was all it took to ease the back-to-school jitters. That specialness I keep hearing about Havergal, it seems to boil down to relationships, community and connections. In particular, teachers here really connect to students and accept them for who they truly are, allowing them to make mistakes and find their own way. Girls remember these empathetic moments decades later. I plan to keep supporting this specialness. Some things may shift at Havergal, but those valued connections will continue, I expect, for another century and beyond.

impressed with the strong sense of community, the kindness and encouragement here at Havergal College. Students, faculty and staff, and the Old Girls I have met at alumnae events express great pride in this community. The sense of specialness rings loud and clear. I was motivated to join Havergal College, given its reputation for offering an exemplary education to girls. The perception that Havergal is a “traditional school but we are not traditional” encouraged me to believe that I would find a community here open to advancing contemporary and resonant initiatives, eager to ensure students are truly prepared for the world they will live in well beyond “the ivy” of Havergal’s incredible campus. Educators globally are wrestling with the proposition that the current model of schooling is no longer fit for purpose. I believe the 125-year history of Havergal suggests we should not fear the new: successive eras have demonstrated that the school has had the wisdom and capacity to evolve and keep pace with what girls need in order to be confident citizens.

FALL/WINTER 2019–20 • TORCH 3