Dear Parents and Guardians,
Greetings from School House and our beautiful Richmond Road campus. I hope you will have enjoyed the last few months as an opportunity for family renewal and reconnection. At the same time, I trust you will have appreciated what has been a deliberate lull in the constant supply of school messages, which I acknowledge sometimes arrive in swarms.
It is that time of year again, the first few leaves have turned brown, vast shoals of pink salmon are moving around Clover Point, and the first serious, ‘sweet refreshing rain’ of autumn is falling.
My last message to you was after what proved to be wonderful Closing Ceremony and Graduation experiences. At Graduation, our 151 students of the Class of 2023 crossed the stage and were greeted by the President of the Alumni Association before leaving to celebrate their numerous achievements and anticipate the next stage of their learning journeys. I am often quoted as saying, “judge on outcome”. If one analyzes the range of university destinations, the quality of the courses that students will be moving on to, and the positive feedback from parents, we can be sure that the SMUS magic source which is based on key ingredients, inspiring teaching, curious learning, and breadth of opportunity…plus a few secrets which I cannot mention, is working well.
Already this year faculty and staff have been buoyed up on a wave of positivity. There is often a debate about whether schools should invest primarily in facilities or in people. At our whole school beginning of term staff and faculty meeting, I explained that in my opinion the answer is not either/or, but both. I have observed outstanding lessons delivered in crumbling huts, under corrugated roofs in scorching sun, to classes of over 50 students. They can work. Nevertheless, in today’s competitive world with the expectations of you, our parents, ever rising, it would take a very bizarre business model to sell that formula in present day Victoria. Wonderful facilities allow us to attract and retain some of the best faculty available and inspire students to be curious and engaged in their learning.
On this theme we are appreciative, relieved, and thrilled in equal measure, to take possession of the Morgan-Trottier Annex at the Junior School. This fabulous long overdue addition has allowed our infrastructure to catch up to the quality of our teaching and programs. We are most grateful to the lead donors, who through many years of deliberation kept the vision alive, to all those who have worked to ensure that the building was delivered on time and to budget, and to the faculty and staff who have spent the last week scrambling to ensure that we are as ready as possible to welcome back our Junior School students.
Floreat means to flourish. To flourish, one needs strong, healthy, and deep roots. This is what the Morgan-Trottier Annex is aiming to support. The inscription on the cornerstone reads ‘Ut Omnes Hic Floreant’, ‘may all flourish here’. I know that Junior School faculty and staff will be working hard to turn that dream into a reality from the moment students return.
Other exciting project news is that the Wenman Pavilion has just been licensed for occupation. This will provide much flexibility in our overall capacity to host events that support many of our athletic programs. Boarders will also see that we have been able to refurbish a sample of rooms as a result of an exceptionally generous and unexpected gift last year. This donation has also allowed us to plan subsequent waves of refurbishment this year and beyond. Rowing training facilities have had a facelift, again as the result of a generous donation, and so too has the Chapel, which is so intensively used for all manner of purposes, the very heart of all we do.
This year we welcome a record 34 new members of faculty and staff and a school enrolment full to bursting. We were delighted this year to confirm the achievement of the targets of our 3-year Admissions Plan, which allowed us to claim to be full and establish wait-pools much earlier in the calendar cycle than ever before. The message for the future, if you know anybody considering a SMUS placement, is to make contact with our Admissions Team as early as possible.
At our recent Senior Leadership Team Retreat, we received the recommendations of our STEAM Working Group. A dedicated team of faculty visited 35 schools around the world last year to glean best practice. They have met 14 times and liaised extensively with key departments at the University of Victoria. The recommendations of the STEAM Working Group will be presented to and debated by our Board of Governors at their retreat in late October. With all that is happening in the fast-moving world of AI and technology, this momentum we are developing to enhance our reputation in science and technology is timely indeed.
Finally, I thought I would leave you with one encouraging thought. The global narrative of the last few years has been one of negativity and rising concern for the quality of life experienced by our students and teenagers in general. At the end of last year, we decided to do a satisfaction ‘Pulse Survey’, focused on baseline statistics generated by extensive surveying in 2019 before the pandemic. It was wonderful to have it confirmed that at SMUS, general levels of student satisfaction have improved despite all the challenges that have been thrown at them.
For any of you who missed it in the end of term rush, we encourage you to read our Year End Report for the 2022-23 school year.
Very best wishes for the return to routine and an especially warm welcome to our 217 new students and their families.
