Author: bwill

This weekend I find myself hundreds of miles north of St. Clement’s School with a profound sense of excitement as well as responsibility- responsibility both to our school and to our country.

All around me there is silence.  I am writing this as I sit in my family’s kitchen at our farm early in the morning on our Family Day weekend.

On Saturday morning I was telling a friend about what our girls had been doing this week with respect to the integration of technology and just how proud I was of both their work and the collaboration between staff and students.

This past week St. Clement’s hosted a visiting committee comprised of educators from across Canada, as well as one member from the Dominican Republic. This visit was one component of an accreditation process for Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) member.

The topic of leadership has permeated my thoughts much of this past week. I believe that it all started because of an article I read in The Globe and Mail last week by Joe Friesen about the Idle No More Movement.

Friday was a day that highlighted why I am so proud to be working with our girls and staff at St. Clement’s. Three unconnected events showcased our girls’ implementing creative and diverse perspectives,

This past week marked the beginning of another term and a new year. As I know I have said before, this time of year leads to reflection on the past year and inspires considerations of goals for the future.

The topic of diversity is so complex that I can sometimes find myself vacillating from having a clear understanding of what it means to feeling that there are just so many perspectives and meanings that one definition can be quite elusive.

Yesterday, as news broke of the incomprehensible shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, it was as if the air was sucked out of so many at our school. Even now I struggle to put words on the page as I continue to feel disbelief and shock.

Thank goodness for great conversations, as they provide wonderful opportunities for perspective.

Each year I meet with all of our faculty and staff to check on how things are going and to get their perspectives about a number of things.