INSPIRING FLOURISHING LIVES. TRANSFORMING OUR GLOBE.
A STRATEGIC VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF RIDLEY COLLEGE
F
or generations, Ridley College has shaped the lives and futures of
graduates living around the globe. To be a Ridleian carries deep meaning for our students, graduates, and their families. Ridleians belong to a legacy of intellectual rigour and quality of character. They share a commitment to service and the camaraderie of traditions. Each generation of students, alumni, parents, teachers, and staff inherits what Ridley has been and creates what Ridley will become.
PROCESS AND PRINCIPLES We launched our 2020 plan from an important crossroads in the school’s history: new leadership, changing economic conditions, unprecedented globalization and technology, and the introduction of the International Baccalaureate programme. To navigate these conditions and new opportunities requires strategic sophistication and the best thinking from our community. We began by asking:
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What do we consider to be the most valuable skills and attitudes for a Ridleian to develop?
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What do we value about our College currently that we would not want to lose as we plan our future?
The meaning of “Ridleian” is now our responsibility to steward, to deepen, to fuel, and to advance. Strategic planning is an exceptional opportunity to write the next chapter in Ridley’s journey forward in the world.
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What changes at Ridley would help the College be a better learning environment for students?
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What about Ridley currently might be an obstacle as we go about implementing a strategic plan? What might be an asset?
FROM THE HEADMASTER
We understand that “flourishing” is a lifelong pursuit, not an easily achieved, packaged product that can be delivered in a few school years. Nothing of lasting value is so facile. That’s why at Ridley we refer to the legacy of a Ridley education. Here, students prepare a foundation upon which they will build extraordinary lives: lives with the power to transform our globe. When prospective students and families visit us, we ask them to consider this question: Can a school change who you are, who you will become and where you will go in life? We believe Ridley can. Ridley provides the foundation upon which students build “flourishing lives that transform our globe”. In the classroom, on the sports field, in the Houses of Ridley, and beyond the gates — flourishing is what we do and what we have always done. Now, our challenge is to do so more intentionally and in all aspects of the Ridley experience. Our challenge is to equip young Ridleians with the foundation — the skills, habits and experiences to flourish and contribute to the flourishing of others. The years between now and 2020 will be both daring and innovative for Ridley. We are set to live out our mission through one of our most ambitious strategic plans. Indeed, as we proclaim our plan for the future we have already begun. We have the great privilege at Ridley to inspire flourishing lives and through them to transform our globe. We invite you to join us on this ambitious journey.
J. Edward Kidd Headmaster
MISSION What We Do
VISION Why We Do What We Do
We prepare meaningful and flourishing lives by
We inspire flourishing lives to transform our globe.
teaching the habits of mind, body, and spirit,
MOTTO
and the values needed to lead in a global society.
Terar Dum Prosim: “May I be consumed in service”
Inspiring Flourishing Lives. Transforming Our Globe. Achieving our vision of inspiring flourishing lives begins by defining what we mean by the word “flourishing”. How does one live a flourishing life, and what is the foundation upon which Ridleians can build such lives? At Ridley, we turn to classical philosophy and modern psychology to answer these essential questions. We understand that the pursuit of happiness — what Aristotle referred to as a flourishing life — is inspired by the following experiences and habits: •
a commitment to serving others;
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a dedication to being active;
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an opportunity to experience personal flow;
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an engagement with a challenging task or pursuit that requires grit and perseverance;
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a search for meaning and a meaningful life;
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a strong bond with healthy and vibrant communities.
T
he yield from over a year dedicated to rigorous thought, inspiration, research, collaboration, and leadership by alumni, parents, students, governors, faculty, staff, and outside experts is an aggressive road map to leverage the best of today’s Ridley injected with new strategies to position our school to thrive in the future. “Inspiring Flourishing Lives. Transforming Our Globe.” is a plan of reinvigoration and reinvention. A plan that seeks to make a Ridley education as timeless and eternal as it has always been for a global community of students living in today’s and tomorrow’s modern society. Three essential principles form the spine of the plan: I. Enhancing the Student Experience II. Strengthening Our Community III. Mobilizing Our Mission
To achieve these objectives we have developed nine major strategies that range from best practices to true innovation in the classroom and beyond. The most exciting element of Ridley 2020 is the chance to combine like never before our 125-year track record of success and expertise with the latest research on how the adolescent brain develops practices that position young people to live flourishing lives.
PERMA the building blocks for a flourishing life:
Positive Emotion Engagement Positive Relationships Meaning Accomplishment/Achievement — Dr. Martin Seligman, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being
I. INSPIRING FLOURISHING LIVES | ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STRATEGY
1 Student-Centred Place the student experience at the heart of all that we do by creating a highly student-centred culture and campus community. Of course educating and caring for our students have always been at the centre of what we do. The shift we must make is to empower students to do more for themselves. We must increase opportunities for Ridleians to play an active role in their school communities so that they can gain the necessary habits, skills, and practice they need to lay the foundation for flourishing lives.
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Develop a comprehensive “student-centred school” strategy transforming our curricular, co-curricular, and residential approaches to learning and teaching.
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Create student-centred assessments that reflect personalized and authentic learning.
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Create opportunities for authentic student voice, student-initiated action, and student leadership and adopt a leadership model and decision-making process that is student-centred.
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Design spaces on campus that enhance the student-centred experience. We seek to create a microcosm of the world here on campus – students coming together from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences learning to build a thriving community.
I. INSPIRING FLOURISHING LIVES | ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STRATEGY
2 Grit and Flow
Inspire students to discover and pursue their passions and equip them with the capacity and determination to persevere through challenges. The advantage of a Ridley education must always be about more than passing tests and preparing for university. In recent years, researchers have identified predictors of success as well as keys to living a satisfying, happy life. We are infusing the best of this research — centred on grit and flow — into a Ridley education to help instill in our students the lifelong habits they need to thrive.
Grit In her groundbreaking research, Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth, University of Pennsylvania Professor of Psychology and MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipient, determined that passion, perseverance, and stamina outweigh IQ as a predictor of success. In other words, personal grit is the key.
Flow A feeling of “flow” is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. The hallmark of flow is spontaneous joy while performing a task. Research indicates that flow is a key element in a feeling of accomplishment and achievement that is essential to well-being. Our goal is to give students opportunities to experience and recognize “flow” — to seek them out in many areas of their lives.
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“As a person, I am more developed, independent and well rounded. I know how to fit into new environments; I have learned how to break barriers. There are many challenges that you can overcome and opportunities that come from stepping out of your comfort zone.” — McRid Wang ’15
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Create opportunities for students to pursue their passions, struggle with challenges, and experience personal flow.
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Encourage students to accept new challenges, risk failure, and develop grit and resilience.
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Instill in each student self-advocacy and self-management skills.
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Design a comprehensive student support network to provide best-inclass academic, medical, social, and emotional wellness.
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Develop growth mindset as a pedagogical philosophy, instilling a belief in students that effort, dedication, and hard work lead to selfefficacy.
I. INSPIRING FLOURISHING LIVES | ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STRATEGY
3 Excellence in Boarding
Strengthen the Houses of Ridley programme to make it an unparalleled, innovative, best-in-class boarding programme. As a boarding school we have the opportunity to engage students in learning not only to be excellent thinkers, but also to be excellent people. The values inherent in living with other students and adults in a residential setting are as important as lessons taught in classrooms. Through our boarding programme, we have an extraordinary platform to help students develop healthy, rewarding habits that will serve them throughout their lives. Drawing on today’s best practices, we will design a modern residential life curriculum to nurture the moral and ethical development of our students at a critical time in their lives, to educate students about health and social issues, and to cultivate engagement in positive relationships and activities. Our House system is one of Ridley’s most distinctive assets. Schools and colleges the world over would like to replicate the kind of culture, traditions, and design we have built into our Houses over the years. Rooted in the strength of the Houses of Ridley, we plan to develop a residential life and pastoral care programme equally enviable.
“Good education should aim to meet each child’s unique needs, capitalize on each child’s strengths, and grant the child autonomy so he or she can take the responsibility for learning.” — Dr. Yong Zhao, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students-
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“They became your family, I think what it creates is a respect for each other, a respect for space, empathy for what other people are going through — it promotes tolerance. It allows a culture of give and take.” — Bruce Croxon ’79
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Improve and expand weekend programming, upgrade current Houses, and evaluate the opportunity to build modern residential facilities.
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Design a professional programme of supervision, evaluation, professional standards and professional development for boarding programme personnel.
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Expand faculty and staff housing on and near campus to encourage a more vibrant adult and student campus community.
II. EMPOWERING RIDLEY CULTURE | STRENGTHENING OUR COMMUNITY
STRATEGY
4 Tradition and Culture Celebrate and honour Ridley’s past, whilst remaining relevant for a future that is guided by the College’s mission, vision, and promises. Our traditions unite us as Ridleians. Yet tradition for the sake of tradition is not the Ridley way. As one of the original schools established in Canada, we keep certain traditions and start new ones because they have meaning and add value to our community. Ridley’s mind, body, spirit education emphasizing disciplined study, bonds of community, Chapel, service to others, team sports, outdoor adventure, House pride, and global perspective can all be found in the promises by which we live today.
“We are wont to describe our period as a time in transition. But we must remember that all times are times of transition. Human life is never for a moment stationary ... New aspects of life, new points of view, are as continuously coming into the horizon of experience as new scenery meets the on-flowing river.” — The Rev. J.O. Miller, Ridley’s first Headmaster, 1889
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WE WILL Assess existing traditions and consider their continued relevance and alignment with our mission, vision, and promises.
Our Promises Student-Centred
Service Action Flow
Grit
We are a student-centred learning community. We are committed to our school’s tradition of being consumed in the service to others. We foster healthy lives filled with action. We encourage students to immerse themselves in activities and personal passions so that they experience personal flow. We create opportunities for students to confront challenges to develop the life-long habits of grit and resilience.
Integrity
We adhere to a moral and ethical code that deepens character and promotes personal growth.
Meaning
We inspire an academic, creative and spiritual search for meaning and truth.
Community Global
We teach the value of belonging to healthy communities. We are an international community and are dedicated to teaching global competency and world-mindedness.
II. EMPOWERING RIDLEY CULTURE | STRENGTHENING OUR COMMUNITY
STRATEGY
5 Exemplary Environment Create a nourishing workplace community that enables our faculty and staff to advance the College’s vision and mission. The adults in our community model and lead in the cultivation of our school’s culture. Many faculty and staff devote their careers to making Ridley the remarkable institution that it is. Working at Ridley must be both highly rewarding to the self and of benefit to the wider community. Part of the fabric of Ridley should be supporting all members of the College’s community to embrace challenges with grit, determination, hope, and a willingness to learn from their experiences. Only then can our faculty and staff model such skills and habits for our students.
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WE WILL •
Assess and analyze annual faculty and staff engagement and conduct regular human resource audits to assess our overall progress toward creat– ing a nourishing workplace community.
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Review and refine professional standards and expectations for both faculty and staff, including essential agreements or promises that guide our work and living together.
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Enhance staff and faculty professional learning to inspire the delivery of innovative and world-class programmes and services. Develop supporting systems and infrastructure that enable a culture of collaboration, data driven decision-making and innovation. Create a comprehensive performance appraisal programme that promotes engagement, goalsetting, accountability and professional growth.
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Enhance the recruitment, mentoring, and retention of outstanding employees.
II. EMPOWERING RIDLEY CULTURE | STRENGTHENING OUR COMMUNITY
STRATEGY
6 Extended Community Strengthen and further engage the Ridley network in the life and the advancement of our College. Ridleians feel great pride of connection. Part of the legacy of a Ridley education is a lifelong bond with remarkable people — a worldwide Ridley family of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and parents. Especially in today’s global world we must make the most of our network to benefit students while they are here, to help graduates advance their careers and personal lives, and to steward and sustain the College itself.
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WE WILL •
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Repurpose and rebrand the Ridley College network to strengthen engagement and deepen relationships among alumni, parents, and the College. Deepen our culture of philanthropy and create a sustainable College for future Ridleians. Enhance alumni and parent connections to support learning opportunities and advance the College’s mission.
III. TRANSFORMING OUR GLOBE | MOBILIZING OUR MISSION
STRATEGY
7 International Positioning Strengthen Ridley College as a Canadian school of the world that prepares students for the world. Ridley is a school that seeks to be of the world to prepare students for the world. Modeled after the oldest independent schools yet distinctly of the new world, our school has built on its classical roots to offer students a forward-looking and rigorous university preparatory education. Student families and our alumni are people who live and work all over the world. Local and international families choose us because they want their children to have the advantage of a global community and a multicultural perspective. Beyond having an on-campus global community, we significantly enhanced the global education we deliver with the introduction of the International Baccalaureate curriculum. Not only does the IB’s rigorous programme prepare students for top universities around the world, it also emphasizes global competence, intercultural fluency, and an ease with “otherness” that is essential to global citizenship and success. Among independent schools, we have forged Ridley’s global identity by bringing together influences from Great Britain, the United States, our own prestigious Canadian heritage, and a multinational student body and faculty. Today, Ridley is better positioned than ever to build on its existing strengths to become an exemplary “world school”.
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WE WILL •
Enhance our faculty, curricular, and cocurricular programmes to provide Ridley students with the ability and attributes to lead in the global community.
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Update our strategic marketing, branding, and positioning process to leverage the existing international nature of Ridley.
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Enrich our international position by developing partnerships with relevant global organizations that align with our mission.
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Position Ridley College as a centre for global literacy, international awareness, and world mindedness.
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“Canada’s International Education Strategy takes a critical step forward. It will significantly improve our capacity to be competitive in attracting international students at all levels of education, with all of the benefits that this will bring to Canada. But, importantly, it also points to a broader vision of the value of international education for Canada and for our partners around the world, as international education builds the diplomacy of knowledge and gives the next generation of Canadian and international students the tools they need to contribute to global society in meaningful ways.” — Karen McBride, President and CEO, Canadian Bureau for International Education
III. TRANSFORMING OUR GLOBE | MOBILIZING OUR MISSION
STRATEGY
8 Strategic Partnerships Create new and strengthen existing innovative partnerships in local, regional, national, and global communities that advance the mission of the College. Schools, particularly independent schools, were once insular institutions. No more. If we want our students to think big and learn big, their school and their education must expose them to a world of opportunities. Only by forming meaningful partnerships with other schools, programmes, service and cultural organizations, and global networks can we be the incubator of leadership, educational best practices, and successful students and graduates we want to be.
“The process of uncovering, sharing and refining all kinds of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries and international borders is something I call the diplomacy of knowledge. As a student of history, I understand that civilization’s greatest advances often came not wholly from within certain disciplines but at the intersections of different disciplines. While cross-disciplinary action can be conducted locally, regionally and nationally, it’s most potent when we cross international borders and cultivate interactions among teachers, students, researchers and others in different countries.” — His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston Governor General of Canada Fulbright Award Address, Boston, May 2013 INSPIRING FLOURISHING LIVES. TRANSFORMING OUR GLOBE. | 22
“Education is key to building the sense of global citizenship that global problem-solving requires.” — J.F. Rischard, High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years To Solve Them
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Enhance Ridley’s position in local, national, and global communities by defining the value that Ridley College brings to a strategic partnership.
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Partner with and contribute to relevant local, national and global communities and organizations.
III. TRANSFORMING OUR GLOBE | MOBILIZING OUR MISSION
STRATEGY
9 Commitment to Service Imbue in all Ridleians a commitment ‘to be consumed in service’ and the principle of serving others. In laying down our best ideas for a curriculum that will develop in students the skills, understanding, values, experiences, and aptitudes they need to build flourishing lives, service is a non-negotiable. In the spirit of Terar Dum Prosim, nothing is more fundamental to the Ridley identity than service to others. We want all our students to be ignited by the fire of social responsibility and service leadership. To be a Ridleian should mean deep experience in positive contribution to something bigger than oneself.
Terar Dum Prosim “May I be consumed in service.”
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” — Aristotle
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WE WILL •
Design and integrate authentic service learning opportunities within the K-12 curriculum.
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Identify and partner with key organizations on the Niagara, national, and global stages to provide students with meaningful, sustained service learning opportunities. Create the Ridley Service Learning Initiative and establish Ridley as a Niagara Centre for Service Learning, and a collaborative centre for community change.
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Provide students, parents, faculty, staff, and alumni with opportunities to engage in service.
J. Edward Kidd - Headmaster
STRATEGIC PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS Justin Baird Julia Bertollo Georgina Black ’85 Stephen Clarke Philip Court ’85
David Darby Dana Evans Elizabeth Gross ’14 George Hendrie ’74
Edward Kidd Nicholas Lam ’14 Scott Lampard ’88 Marcie Lewis ’03
Alison Loat ’94 Jim Parke Jason van Veghel-Wood Andrew T. Weller
THOUGHT LEADER FORUM PRESENTERS September 14th, 2014
Bruce Croxon ’79 – Nathaniel Houghton ’07 – Michael Furdyk – Anne-Marie Kee – Alison Loat ’94 – Ian Symmonds –
“Entrepreneurship and Creating Innovation” “Social Entrepreneurship and Education” “Technology and Education” “Trends in Education” “Leadership and Democracy” “Planning for the Future”
STRATEGIC PLAN WORK GROUPS THOUGHT LEADER AND LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR Chair Jim Parke Jeff Cairns Philip Court ’85 Conrad Cowherd Julie Cameron Aimee Cook David Darby Rick Dykstra Anne-Marie Kee Noah Karachi ’15 Jack Lightstone Jay Tredway ’96
INNOVATION AGENDA Chair Andrew T. Weller Julia Bertollo Fiona Blaikie Stephen Clarke Kailene Jackson ’15 Marcie Lewis ’03 Diana MacKay ’87 Laurissa Maddocks ’15 Joe Robertson Rachael Scott Ben Smith
CLASSIC CULTURE Co-chairs Georgina Black ’85 Elizabeth Gross ’14 Tina Brown Linda Chang Paul DeVellis Joshua Gatcke ’15 George Hendrie ’74 Helen Himebaugh ’15 Geoff Park ’80 Bryan Rose ’96
GATEWAY TO THE GLOBE Chair Scott Lampard ’88 Sunil Bahadoorsingh ’88 Timothy Coffin ’81 Hanna Kidd Nicholas Lam ’14 Jocelyn Lee ’15 Andrew Lind ’88 Rodney Reimer Taylor York-Ireland Jenny Zhang Robert Lixinyi Zhu ’16
www.ridleycollege.com
SERVICE REDEFINED Chair Justin Baird Kate Anderson ’82 Dani Colicchia Dana Evans Allison Harding Nathaniel Houghton ’07 Alison Loat ’94 Paul O’Rourke Siena Vendittelli ’15 Erin Whitty
Ideas That Influenced Inspiring Flourishing Lives
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Paul Tough, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the
Experience
Hidden Power of Character
Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Tony Wagner and Robert A. Compton, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World
His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. Fulbright Award and Panel
Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our
Discussion. Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children
28 May 2013.
Need — and What We Can Do about It
J.F. Rischard, High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty
Yong Zhao, Catching up or Leading the Way: American
Years to Solve Them
Education in the Age of Globalization
Martin E.P. Seligman, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding
Yong Zhao, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and
of Happiness and Well-being
Entrepreneurial Students
INSPIRING FLOURISHING LIVES. TRANSFORMING OUR GLOBE.
MISSION We prepare meaningful and flourishing lives by teaching the habits of mind, body, and spirit, and the values needed to lead in a global society.
VISION We inspire flourishing lives to transform our globe.
MOTTO Terar Dum Prosim: “May I be consumed in service”
P.O. Box 3013 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, ON L2R 7C3 Canada (905) 684-1889 www.ridleycollege.com