JOY AND PURPOSE IN ACTION CAMPUS MASTER PLAN Project Summary: July 2022
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INTRODUCTION Hillfield Strathallan College has completed a Campus Master Plan to guide the development of our facilities. The goal is to ensure HSC’s ability to sustainably deliver mission excellence for the next 50 years or more. This document summarizes the rationale, process, plan and next steps.
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Land acknowledgment: Hillfield Strathallan College is situated upon the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas. This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which was an agreement between the Haudenosaunee, Anishinabek and other Indigenous nations to share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. As members of the learning community at HSC, we are committed to honouring this covenant by working alongside our Indigenous neighbours and building a sustainable relationship with the land that we all cherish.
CONTENTS 2
INTRODUCTION
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HISTORY AS A PRELUDE
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THE HSC DIFFERENCE
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PLANS INTO ACTION
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JOY, PURPOSE, ACTION AND IMPACT
Prepared by Zahra Valani, CFRE Executive Director of Constituency Relations zahra.valani@hsc.on.ca 905-389-1367 Ext. 162
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JOY AND PURPOSE IN ACTION
HISTORY AS A PRELUDE Building on more than a century of rich history and traditions, HSC is one of Canada’s most unique independent schools, widely recognized for excellence in many regards. Our history begins with the founding of Highfield School for Boys in 1901 and Strathallan School for Girls in 1923. Those two schools grew and developed in various iterations until, in 1962, they merged to form HSC and moved to the College’s current campus. From the beginning, the story of HSC has been one of growth, renewal and always leading the way forward, academically and otherwise. Today, HSC is one College with four schools, united by our shared mission and ideals to develop joyful and engaged students whose HSC journey prepares them to live with purpose, to understand their world, to inspire, to lead, and to act to make a difference in their own unique ways. Our mission is backed by five core ideals that were developed not “from above” by school leadership, but in conjunction with the students: integrity, respect, community, determination, and individuality.
CORE IDEALS INTEGRITY RESPECT COMMUNITY DETERMINATION INDIVIDUALITY
A LEGACY OF CAMPUS GROWTH
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HILLFIELD STRATHALLAN COLLEGE
THE HSC DIFFERENCE Our storied history has established a foundation and a mindset for how we will seek to shape our future. Anticipating and embracing the everchanging needs of our students has always been our strength at HSC, and today we do so from an everincreasing position of strength and resilience. The “HSC Difference” is our ability to offer a seamless journey of academic excellence from preschool through Grade 12 that includes sound social and emotional development and student-centred, Project-Based Learning (PBL) within a nurturing community. Supported by robust health and wellness programming, the College aims to prepare well-rounded, communityminded students for post-secondary studies and beyond. The academic journey at HSC focuses on ensuring that students have the opportunity for deep and true learning through a curriculum that is meaningful, relevant and caring. Students are encouraged and supported to follow their passions, whether in academics, athletics, fine arts, outdoor education, community service or some combination of these. Equally unique is our setting; HSC is a true urban school that is also blessed with an abundance of natural beauty. We make the most of our environment by embracing the opportunities we have for indoor and outdoor learning, and we will continue to develop and expand on this unique aspect of our College. 5
JOY AND PURPOSE IN ACTION
PLANS INTO ACTION While already enjoying a reputation as one of Canada’s best independent schools, HSC has never rested on its laurels. Excellence in education is not static; continued pursuit of our mission for HSC demands modern pedagogy, state-of-the-art facilities and tools, and continuous advancement in all areas of the College. One cannot stand pat in this regard. Our most recent strategic planning process, completed in 2022, identified a handful of key strategic goals for the future of the College. What emerged clearly from that process was the need to develop a Campus Master Plan to address immediate and longer-term opportunities relating to: the limitations of some of our older facilities; properly aligning our facilities and tools with modern pedagogy; and improving accessibility in all its forms, from traffic circulation and safety, to pedestrian flow in and around our buildings, to physical access for people of all abilities. The Campus Master Planning process began in January 2021, in conjunction with our strategic planning process. It was an in-depth and diligent 17-month process that engaged all segments of the HSC community: students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and others. The key components, and phases, of the Campus Master Plan are:
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1A
Middle School. Over 53,000 square feet of all new academic spaces. Associated external, landscaping and site work. New secondary entrance to campus from Garth Street. Removal of the Holton and Strathallan buildings.
$41.5 million
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Middle School Athletics. One new double gym and one new single gym. Associated external, landscaping and site work. Almost 39,000 square feet of all new athletics and recreation facilities.
$34.7 million
$7.5 million to be mortgaged*
$5 million to be mortgaged*
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Central Campus Hub, Learning Commons, Innovation Labs and food service area. Net gain of 27,000 square feet of all new additional instruction, recreation and gathering spaces. Administration space utilization will be shrunk by 2,000 square feet due to efficiencies in space usage. Associated external, landscaping and site work, including reconfiguring the entry from Fennell Street West, a new north parking lot and bus parking area. Removal of the existing Page and Killip buildings and Lawson Hall.
$70 million
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New Junior School and removal of the Heaven, Young and Collinson buildings to make room for sports fields and landscape improvements on the east side of the campus. Net gain of 16,000 square feet of all new additional instruction space. Associated external, landscaping and site work.
$40 million
*All mortgage payments will be made through the existing expansion fund and not through donations or tuition increases.
HILLFIELD STRATHALLAN COLLEGE
The Phasing Strategy will minimize disruption to the student experience by avoiding the use of temporary learning spaces such as portables. Each of the three new buildings and associated landscaping and site work is a self-contained phase, meaning that each can be implemented separately or concurrently based on the availability of funding. The construction process, materials and energy use of the new facilities will all support HSC’s stated aspiration to be a leader in environmental sustainability and to teach students about climate change mitigation and environmental stewardship through the campus itself.
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JOY AND PURPOSE IN ACTION
JOY, PURPOSE, ACTION AND IMPACT Our history has also been one of growth and renewal, of anticipating the future and seeking to make our place there. Building on that history, and on our innate strengths, we plan to create a cohesive modern learning environment that maximizes our indoor and outdoor learning and recreation opportunities, embracing and capitalizing on the full potential of our 50 acres as a “learning landscape” and on our most important capital – our teachers and our students. While we pursue the future of educational spaces – flexible, adaptable and future-ready – what makes HSC special will never change: instilling joy and purpose in learning and in maximizing the diverse potential in all of our students.
“The tragedy of life is not found in failure, but complacency. Not in doing too much, but in doing too little. Not in living above your means, but below your capacity.” Benjamin Mays 8
