Message from Head of School Personalized Learning: Our Passion and Our Priority

PERSONALIZED LEARNING: OUR PASSION AND OUR PRIORITY

By Nancy Richards, M.Ed., Head of School

Personalized learning has long been an educational priority for SMLS and a key differentiator for our school. It is something we do exceptionally well thanks to our unique understanding of how girls learn, our ability to provide students with an array of opportunities and experiences, and the personal connection students have with our faculty and staff.

Today, as more independent schools see the importance of personalization as an educational direction, SMLS takes pride in the fact that each of our school’s initiatives have been guided by the underlying values of personalization for years. Our reggioinspired and student-centred classrooms in Junior School, our project-based learning opportunities with a dedicated Makerspace in Middle School and our customized professional internships in Senior School are all examples of SMLS’s dedicated and personalized approach to learning.

In recent years, our faculty and staff have undertaken significant professional development to deepen their understanding of and their skills in personalized learning as we are all aligned in this priority. Our faculty members recognize that girls must be engaged and invested in their own learning, and that no two students learn the same way or at the same pace. Equally important, they understand that a personalized approach enables girls to better acquire the twentyfirst century competencies of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, character and citizenship.

In personalized learning, students engage in projectbased, inquiry-based, and constructivist learning. Students are authentically concerned with real-world issues and there are flexible schedules and flexible spaces. Teachers are seen as mentors, coaches and

advisors. Our alumnae and the many parents whose daughters have been at the school for a number of years know that personalization is an affirmation of the great things that are already happening in our SMLS highperforming classrooms.

Currently, SMLS students have a number of opportunities to direct their learning, both within and outside of the classroom, and our commitment to personalized learning only stands to grow as we begin to implement the strategic priorities outlined in the school’s new strategic plan. Simply put, empowering women is our history, and it is our future.

In the time ahead, SMLS will play an even more active role in helping students design their own education path while being held increasingly accountable for their own learning success and applying their knowledge in real-world settings. Academic excellence and personalized learning are the first goal pillar in our Aspire 2029 strategic plan, and as you will read in the pages of this magazine, we are forever committed to finding opportunities to help our students apply their skills and knowledge in new and often interdisciplinary situations.

With each girl at the centre, and supported by our strong community, we are leveraging our current strengths and leaning into an aspirational direction for our school.

Our commitment to a differentiated and personalized learning experience for each Millie is the foundation of empowerment for our students. It is how they will learn - and become invested in - the value of their own personal goal-setting, begin to investigate and develop solutions for real world problems, and identify and pursue their own unique interests.

Personalized learning is what will foster their love of learning, their ability to learn deeply and their development of critical 21st century skills and competencies. It is also what sets us apart from any other school because we do it well; we do it with passion; and we do it as a matter of priority.

Personalized learning is one of the most important shifts in education within the last decade, and I am extremely proud that SMLS has been a leader in this work for some time already. With our new strategic plan in place - a plan that puts an even sharper focus on education, innovation and empowerment - we are further fulfilling our mission and building a community where young women are empowered to challenge and transform the world.

Personalized learning is what will foster their love of learning, their ability to learn deeply and their development of critical 21st century skills and competencies.