SchoolScoop

Excellence in the Classroom

Branksome faculty have taken home some highly prestigious awards

Everyday, Branksome Hall’s faculty challenge and inspire our students to love learning and to shape a better world. We are so grateful for their contributions, and proud to share some recent accolades.

Math Instructional Leader and teacher Edith Louie has been recognized with the René Descartes Medal, a province-wide honour celebrating excellence in classroom teaching, leadership in school and provincial activities, and mentorship to students and other teachers. Louie dedicated her award to her late mother, citing her unconditional love and values.

Jill Strimas, Director of Boarding and Instructional Leader, Language A, ESL & International Languages, and Jordan Small, former Branksome Hall English teacher who is now chair of English at Upper Canada College, had their professional partnership and friendship recognized with the 2022 Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Advocates of transparent course design, they were honoured for “their innovative teaching approaches and uncompromising focus on student leadership, agency and success.”

And in recognition of how she uses her talents to inspire and build up others as teachers, Heather Friesen, Head, Academics and Professional Learning, was awarded the 2022 Continuing and Professional Learning Award of Excellence from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

Congratulations to these four school leaders whose outstanding work as educators and mentors has touched so many Branksome students and alums.

Governance Meet Branksome’s New Chair, Mona Malone

Audits

A Commitment to DEI Goals

In 2021, Branksome partner Anima Leadership engaged with students, alums, parents and employees through surveys, focus groups and meetings for an audit on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). They also assessed the school’s admissions, human resources and communications and marketing areas to identify opportunities for potential growth. A common theme that emerged was great pride in being part of the Branksome community, and a recognition of the school’s commitment to working on short- and long-term DEI goals. Areas of development identified included a strong need for more diversity among faculty, as well as more of a focus on DEI education throughout the school. Presentations to community members on the audit’s fi ndings will begin in the new year, and will continue throughout the remainder of the 2022–23 school year.

Speakers

Rachel Simmons on Self-Compassion

The school welcomed internationally recognized educator and author Rachel Simmons on October 27 for employee professional development and an evening talk for parents and donors as part of the Branksome Speaker Series on Well-Being. Simmons guides and empowers leaders worldwide to lead with purpose, courage and emotional intelligence. She serves on the faculty of the Google School for Leaders and was, until recently, the director of the Lewis Leadership Program at Smith College. She co-founded the NGO Girls Leadership and has served as an advisor to Oprah Winfrey and former Meta top exec Sheryl Sandberg. As a speaker, Simmons is renowned for her ability to artfully weave humour with social science research. Th is was certainly the case with her time at Branksome, as she deft ly provided frameworks for building a positive stress mindset and modelling self-compassion while also sharing stories from her own life as a mother of a 10-year-old girl and coach to leaders in the tech industry.

Mona Malone has been appointed the new Chair of the Board of Governors at Branksome Hall, effective September 2022. Malone is the parent of a past Branksome student, has served as Vice-Chair of the Board for two years, and was previously a board member for four years. When describing her experience with Branksome, Malone openly shares her admiration and respect for the school community.

“As a proud Branksome parent, it is the community I love most about Branksome Hall,” she says. “Th is is a leading, globally minded school, with so many exciting opportunities for students to connect, learn and grow. I am honoured to continue to advance the mission of Branksome, and inspired by its future potential.”

We wish to thank Jean Cloutier, past Board Chair, for providing wise guidance, dedication and profound contribution to our community during his time leading the board.

Now Open An iHub for the Junior School

Branksome leaders were thrilled to open the Junior School iHub this fall. This innovative learning space for students and faculty also serves as a launching pad for the new iCAST building, currently under construction on campus. The Junior School iHub comprises zones dedicated to media, creation and building, coding and robotics, professional learning spaces and fabrication. Made possible thanks to the generosity of our Annual Fund donors, this hub will empower students to explore learning in various ways, such as creating a podcast around social justice or developing augmented reality scenes showcasing biodiversity in different biomes.

Forums

On Fire in New York City

On September 12, three of our students, accompanied by teachers and Karrie Weinstock, Head of our Centre for Strategic Leadership, attended PEN America’s Words on Fire forum in New York City. The forum brings awareness to both historical and modern-day instances of silencing writing and free expression through book bans, educational gag orders, online harassment, self-censorship, and the detention of journalists and artists worldwide. Our students had the opportunity to hear fi rsthand from world-renowned authors and trailblazing advocates for free speech, including Margaret Atwood and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Competitions

There’s No Debate about Re:Solved

Branksome Hall and the Munk Debates have partnered to initiate Re:Solved, a worldwide public-speaking and debate competition. The goal is to highlight global competitive public speaking and debate, and enable students everywhere to participate using our accessible, innovative db8 platform.

Open to students aged 13–18, this competition offers students engagement with stimulating ideas and judges from around the world. The fi rst competition opened in November 2022, with the top 32 students moving on to the online debate phase. A fi nal, in-person debate event will take place in Toronto in May 2023, with four students flown to Toronto. All expenses will be paid, and the four fi nalists will receive prizes to assist them with their post-secondary education.

Graduates