Beacon Appleby - Our Strategic Vision

OUR STRATEGIC VISION

Whether it’s the incredible success of our Advanced Placement programme; the championships won on the fields, the courts, the rink and in the pool; or, the artistic performances across all genres and audiences, Appleby College has garnered a reputation for being at the forefront of education and on par with the finest schools around the world.

Breadth, excellence, innovation and caring define the essence of today’s Appleby experience. Programmes such as Northward Bound at the S. Bruce McLaughlin Northern Campus in Temagami, Senior Two boarding, Global Education, and Financial Assistance have become cornerstones of who we are as a school.

Today, we continue to push the boundaries by taking bold, innovative steps designed to make the student experience more fulsome, while staying true to our core values, Mission, Purpose and Pillars of Strength.

The next five to ten years will be an incredibly exciting time as we introduce innovative enhancements and new initiatives designed to further strengthen Appleby as a world leader in education and one of Canada’s preeminent schools.

Focused on the four core areas of the Appleby experience: Programme, Culture, People & Community, Business Model & Impact - at the centre of each is an unwavering commitment to helping students better understand themselves and equip them with the skills, attitudes and confidence that will help them positively influence the rapidly changing world around them.

To stay at the forefront of educational excellence, we must continue to evolve, adapt and make investments and are doing so in the following areas:

  • Appleby College’s Diplomas of Distinction: Based on the success of the Global Leadership and AP Capstone diploma programmes, we are expanding our diplomas of distinction offering to include Business Leadership; STEM Leadership; and Creative Arts Leadership.
  • Our Commitment to Wellbeing: Appleby’s philosophy places the wellbeing of the individual at the centre of education, where wellbeing and learning come together in a stigma free environment and where students can be their authentic selves. It is our goal that every Appleby student graduates with a deep sense of themselves, of mental health literacy and how to use wellbeing strategies to navigate and manage the demands of a complex world.
  • Cockwell Hall: We look forward to a new addition to campus thanks to a transformational gift from The Cockwell Family – Cockwell Hall. Designed to meet the expanding academic, co-curricular, and boarding life requirements of our students, the new state-of-the-art building will significantly add to and upgrade our classrooms, with many to include adaptive spaces which will allow students to explore, discover, invent and innovate with leading edge technologies. In addition, Cockwell Hall will also include new boarding rooms connected to Walker House to accommodate Appleby’s growing Boarding Life programme. 
  • A Renewed Commitment to Financial Assistance: Having a talented range of students, regardless of their backgrounds, is one of the central hallmarks of great schools, and it’s a vital part of the Appleby experience. It is our goal for an increasing proportion of financial assistance to come from donations and endowment, ensuring the sustainability and future growth of this key deliverable.
  • Expanding Non-Tuition Revenue Sources: As a not-for-profit charity, all funds are reinvested for the benefits of our educational purpose. As we look forward, the importance of supplemental revenue sources is an increasing priority. Appleby’s future success as an innovator and leader in the education sector will be enabled by boldly diversifying our revenues beyond just tuition.

To learn more about Beacon Appleby – Our Strategic Vision, please click on the video box below for a special message from Innes van Nostrand, Principal, and Fraser Grant ’87, Head of School & Deputy Principal. Continue reading for additional information on Appleby’s diplomas of distinction, the school’s commitment to wellbeing, our new addition to campus - Cockwell Hall, and Appleby’s strategic planning process. 

 
 

 

 

APPLEBY COLLEGE'S DIPLOMAS OF DISTINCTION

Who we are as a school is in large part due to those who came before us and introduced such forward thinking programmes such as the S. Bruce McLaughlin Northern Campus, our Senior Two boarding requirement, and the Global Leadership Diploma.

These are just a few examples that serve as cornerstones of Appleby College today and inspire us to continue to push the boundaries to make the student experience more fulsome.

Based on the success of the Global Leadership and AP Capstone diploma programmes, we are excited to announce the piloting of three new Appleby College diplomas of distinction: Business Leadership; STEM Leadership; and Creative Arts Leadership.

Similar to Appleby’s Global Leadership Diploma, Appleby’s new diplomas of distinction provide students the opportunity to dive deep in areas of study that they are passionate about, providing students with the opportunity to take active ownership of their learning and prepare our graduates for the next stage of their journey.

To learn more about Appleby’s diplomas of distinction please click on the video box for a special message from Fraser Grant ’87, Assistant Head of School & Deputy Principal.

A summary of requirements for each diploma of distinction is also included below.
 

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DISTINCTION IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

  • Successful completion of at least three business courses at the 3M/4M/4U level and one mathematics course at the 4U level
  • Achieve at least a 90% average across their top 3 business courses
  • Engage in an activity that provides business leadership experience
  • External learning: summer work/internship
  • Performance-based learning: case study competition, market simulation challenge, etc.
  • Community engagement: volunteer at a non-profit, attend a networking event, etc.
  • At least two clubs/co-curriculars focused on business or entrepreneurship  
  • The Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award
  

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DISTINCTION IN CREATIVE ARTS LEADERSHIP

  • Successful completion of at least two arts course at the 3M/3U level and two at the 4M/4U level
  • Achieveing at least a 90% average across their top 3 arts courses
  • External learning: Global Experiential Trip with an Arts focus, internship, etc.
  • Performance-based learning: recital, gallery show, etc.
  • Community engagement: volunteer at a museum, attend a dance festival, etc.
  • At least two clubs/co-curriculars focused on creative arts
  • The Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award
 

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DISTINCTION IN STEM LEADERSHIP

  • Successful completion of at least two science, one technology and two mathematics course at the 4M/4U level
  • Achieve at least a 90% average across their top course from each discipline
  • Engage in an activity that provides STEM leadership experience 
  • External learning: Global Experienctial Trip with a STEM focus, internship, etc.
  • Performance-based learning: math competition, science fair, etc.
  • Community engagement: volunteer in a lab, atatend a STEM conference, etc.
  • At least two clubs/co-curriculars focused on STEM
  • The Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award
  

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DISTINCTION IN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

  • Global Leadership Interdisciplinary credit course in Senior Two (Grade 12)
  • Two Global Experiential trips
  • Prolonged study of World Languages
  • Enhanced study and development of Global Competencies
  • Completion of Global Competencies Reflection connected to Global Experiential Trip
  • Development of a Global Action Plan
  • Global, Social Justice or Intercultural focus in co-curricular activities
  • The Duke of Edinburgh's Bronze Award

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AP CAPSTONE™ DIPLOMA

  • In addition to its AP course programme, Appleby offers the two-year AP Capstone Diploma programme for Senior One (Grade 11) and Senior Two (Grade 12) students
  • The AP Capstone programme focuses on analytic, research, problem-solving and communication skills
  • AP Capstone students complete AP Research, which includes creating a proposal, choosing a methodology, conducting research, writing a paper of 5,000 to 6,000 words, and presenting and defending their findings
  • Eight AP Capstone Diploma recipients have been published in The Young Researcher – a peer-reviewed journal for secondary school students
  • Appleby is the largest AP Capstone school in Canada

 

 

WELLBEING AT THE CORE OF STUDENT LEARNING

When speaking with Appleby College alumni, we are always inspired by their accounts of the enduring nature of the Appleby experience.

When they share how their Appleby experiences have shaped who they’ve become, three elements come to the surface:  

  • They speak of growth-promoting experiences such as a trip to Temagami, being part of a special Chapel service, completing a challenging academic project, continuing with a passion in athletics, arts or service that they developed while at the school, or living in boarding for the first time in their Senior Two year.
  • They touch on the breadth and totality of their experiences over their time at the school and how this challenged them to stretch themselves and perhaps develop strengths that they were underutilizing or never realized they had.
  • They speak about the amazing friendships they made that still endure, and of a supportive, caring and inclusive culture where teachers, advisors, coaches and their peers supported them to meet the challenges of a demanding Appleby programme. 

A few years ago, recognizing the need to do more in the area of student wellbeing in a school environment of high challenge in a more complex world, the school embraced Positive Psychology – a science-based body of wellbeing knowledge and practices.

As a school, we are incredibly excited about building on the platform of Positive Psychology to shoot for a north star and become a beacon and hallmark in the domain of student wellbeing.

Our bold vision includes the following elements:

  • Place wellbeing at the core of the Appleby education by more deliberately and comprehensively teaching Positive Psychology to students and staff
  • Help each student to develop deep self-knowledge of their personal capacities such as: Emotional Intelligence; Empathy; Gratitude; Mindset; their strengths and limitations; understanding of how they think and learn or, more generally, their abilities of meta-cognition
  • Promote a school community in which high mental health literacy is the norm and where stigma is eliminated
  • Give every student access to rich self-knowledge tools and assessments
  • Invest in increased academic learning support and mental health services for our students
  • Elevate investment in faculty training and expertise
  • Provide education and support to parents on student learning needs, Positive Psychology and mental health
  • Provide outreach to alumni around supporting them on their life journeys

With a bold vision for wellbeing in education, we look to becoming a Centre of Excellence that builds and shares wellbeing knowledge and practices with the educational sector and wider society.

Please click on the video box above to view a special message about Appleby’s commitment to placing wellbeing at the core of student learning from Tom Karcz, assistant head of school, wellbeing.

 

INTRODUCING COCKWELL HALL

We are delighted to announce a new addition to campus thanks to a transformational gift from The Cockwell Family – Cockwell Hall!

Designed to meet the expanding academic, co-curricular, and boarding life requirements of our students, the new state-of-the-art building will significantly add to and upgrade our classrooms, with many to include adaptive spaces which will allow students to explore, discover, invent and innovate with leading edge technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the addition of new classrooms we also look forward to removing the portables currently situated on East Field. In addition, Cockwell Hall will also include new boarding rooms connected to Walker House to accommodate Appleby’s growing Boarding Life programme. 

While we are in the preliminary stages of design, we believe this impactful and innovative addition to campus will be transformational, in the same way the Memorial Classroom Building and the A.W.B. Alumni Centre for Athletics and Student Life have transformed the educational experience, making Appleby the school it is today.

Over the coming months we will be sharing additional details on Cockwell Hall as well as unveiling the final design. In the meantime, we invite you to click on the video box on the left for a special message about Cockwell Hall and the impact it will have on the Appleby community as we learn and grow together.

 

DEVELOPING BEACON APPLEBY - OUR STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Prior to the start of COVID-19, Appleby College initiated a review of the school’s strategic plan and began to embark on setting out a new roadmap as we look forward over the next five to ten years. While the onset of the pandemic forced us to take a slight detour to focus on more immediate needs, the planning for Appleby’s future didn’t stop. And in fact, COVID-19 helped us evaluate new opportunities with a new lens.

Working in consultation with OCAD University’s strategy consulting arm – OCAD U Co and its managing director Kevin Morris (who is now working with Appleby as a senior strategy consultant), over the course of 18 months Appleby’s Leadership team, board members, and other members of faculty and staff engaged in a research driven approach to gain a better understanding of plausible future scenarios from a global and educational perspective. While Appleby has an impressive record with strategy development tied to the core Appleby experience, this process looked at innovation in the adjacent and transformational zones – focusing on new markets and new services/programmes.

To assist in assessing the school’s strategic positioning and innovation priorities, Appleby also relied on a tool developed by Appleby alumnus Geoff Tuff ’89, principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Boston, Massachusetts office.

As Geoff described it in a May 2012 article published on the Harvard Business Review website:

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“The Innovation Ambition Matrix is a refinement of a classic diagram devised by the mathematician H. Igor Ansoff to help organizations allocate funds among growth initiatives… In the band of activity at the lower left of the matrix are core innovation initiatives – efforts to make incremental changes to existing products and incremental inroads into new markets. At the opposite corner of the matrix are transformational initiatives, designed to create new offers – if not whole new businesses – to serve new markets and customer needs. And, in the middle are adjacent innovations, which can share characteristics with core and transformational innovations. An adjacent innovation involves leveraging something the company does well into a new space.”

Please click on the video box below to learn more about “The Innovation Ambition Matrix”.