10 Before you can lead a community, you have to belong to one
12 An education that lasts a lifetime
15 Where students find the teacher they’ll remember forever
18 Financial results
New and Retiring Board Members
The SMLS community is very grateful to Ms. Rebecca Crane, Ms. Claire Gillies, and Mr. Gary Skene who stepped down from the SMLS Board of Governors following the 2023-24 academic year. Their unique skill sets and generous contributions have helped shape and strengthen our school.
The SMLS Board of Governors represent a wide mix of skills and competencies. These dedicated volunteers do a wonderful service for the school and fulfill a critical oversight role, ensuring SMLS is well positioned to meet student needs now and into the future.
2023-24 Board of Governors
Gary Skene
Bishop Susan Bell Sister Heather Broadwell
James Brown Rebecca Crane Ian Gallagher Claire Gillies
Sister Margaret Hayward
Meredith Krishnasamy Lisa Mathews
Leah Mauer ‘00
Ijeoma Ugwunze
Lauren Tribe ‘87
Victoria Hughes ‘01
James Ash
Message from Our Board Chair
As we reflect on the past year at St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School (SMLS), I am both proud and energized by the strength of our community, our legacy, and our commitment to a bright future. Our school’s foundation is deeply rooted in a tradition that champions girls’ education, opening doors for young women to lead, explore, and realize potential in ways that are not always available elsewhere.
As we prepare our students for a future filled with unknown opportunities, we focus on building foundational skills that are timeless and resilient, and ensuring our girls are future-ready, and forward thinking. Analytical thinking and logical reasoning are emphasized, alongside skills that technology cannot replicate—creativity, invention, and ingenuity.
SMLS is a day school, which puts us at a distinct advantage, and we see the results reflected in our graduates. As both teachers and parents join together to focus on developing character, building resilience, and igniting curiosity, our students grow and mature with their parents’ guidance and wisdom remaining central to their lives – something our university-aged and early-career alumnae emphasize as being essential to their success. This essential connection shapes our girls’ character, grounding them with values and insights that prepare them not only to navigate change but to lead in it.
The Board of Governors is charged with imagining SMLS five years from now, ten years from now, 100 years from now. What will education require in that timeframe, how can we position our girls to be leaders, visionaries, and legends? Through careful planning, strategic foresight, and unwavering dedication, we support the school’s leadership in shaping a learning environment that will serve both current students and the many who will come after them.
This Annual Report reflects the dedication, strength, and forward-thinking spirit that define our school. I am deeply grateful for the commitment of our faculty, leadership, and all who support our mission, and particularly grateful to the parents, grandparents, mentors, and allies who commit to championing girls’ education and recognizing that an outstanding education gives a girl power that cannot be denied. Together, we are ensuring that SMLS will continue to be a place where young women grow to meet the future with confidence, resilience, and vision.
Victoria Hughes ‘01 Chair, Board of Governors
Message from the Head of School
This past year has been a remarkable journey for us as a school – one of ongoing discovery and community building. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from, and with, our school leaders, governors, parents, alumnae, and students, and in ways that allow us all to revisit our heritage, carry out our mission and envision an exciting future for SMLS. Our confidence as a school for girls, knowing how girls learn best, and our ever present forward-thinking approach to prepare our students for the future continues to make SMLS a preeminent institution where young women are empowered to challenge and transform the world.
Our dynamic community of three schools only strengthens our relationships with one another, creating a collaborative environment that is both rich and diverse for everyone who passes through our hallways, classrooms, and learning spaces. We carefully consider the ways in which we prepare students to transition from one division to the next and beyond the walls of SMLS into post-secondary education.
Our unwavering commitment to our students and our broader community drive us to reflect on our strengths and to identify opportunities where we can excel in every aspect of our work. This is necessary as we continue to prepare our students for a world that is changing and uncertain, knowing they need the knowledge, tools and confidence to live lives of meaning, joy and fulfillment.
We are very proud of the progress that we are making and see ourselves as leaders in education for girls and in innovative programming – programming that embraces new technologies and approaches that will empower our students to dare and lead. Our students are both community and globally minded and they are considering thoughtfully how their actions can positively impact people and communities beyond themselves and their lives here at SMLS. This is the SMLS difference; this is where a girl’s education proves to be a pivotal experience that leads to student success in her learning journey and beyond school into a life of purpose.
Catherine BARRY Hant ‘89 Head of School
OUR VISION
Young women empowered to challenge and transform the world.
OUR MISSION
To engage each girl in a personalized, real-world learning experience where she explores her unique pathways within a nurturing community.
Where girls learn to dare.
Established in 1891, SMLS has been challenging young women to think expansively and engage fearlessly with a personalized, real-world learning experience that teaches them to see the future as a gift.
Anchored in a nurturing community of exceptionally committed educators and supportive peers, SMLS is where girls go to create the best version of themselves.
This is the place where the new, the unfamiliar, even the seemingly impossible becomes, “I got this.”
We know how girls learn.
The women who founded SMLS in 1891 wove the DNA of “women can and will” into the fabric of this school. Even then, they knew a woman’s place should be of her choosing. Over 130 years later, we continue to build on our profound understanding of how girls learn, which is: Differently. The measure of our expertise is the bold mark our students make on the world. As a student moves forward, through her school years and beyond, she looks to SMLS as a source of pride and power, with gender never standing in her way.
Academic Highlights: Junior School
Junior School participation in the Mathmatica Contest included students in grades 3, 4, and 5.
• All classes (JS3- MS7) have earned a place on the School Honour Roll in the Mathematica Centrum competition for four consecutive years.
• In 2024, all classes scored in the top 15% of schools writing across the country.
Academic Highlights: Middle School
All Middle School students work toward the Junior Duke Award, which is unique to SMLS, focusing on many of the skills of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program such as developing the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the whole girl.
Middle School participation in the Beaver Computing Challenge saw 120 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 complete the challenge with results higher than our 5-year average.
• 16.7% of SMLS participants scored 90% or higher.
• 29.2% of SMLS participants achieved distinction (i.e., top 25% of all students writing).
Students in grades 7 and 8 also participated in the Mathematica Contests. More than 85% of our grade 7 students wrote the Euler Contest, and more than 90% of our grade 8 students participated in the Newton Contest.
Grade 3, 4 and 5 students work towards earning the Millie 100 award, based on developing life skills, participating in near and far adventures, and a variety of character building opportunities. Students who meet the criteria receive this award at the end of their JS5 year.
The Gauss Mathematics Contest, offered through the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC), offers all Grade 7 and 8 students the opportunity to challenge themselves beyond the provincial curriculum to solve complex problems in mathematics. Each year, we also have a group of MS6 students who choose to take on the Grade 7 contest.
Academic Highlights: Senior School
Achieving the Duke of Edinburgh International Award at the Bronze Level remains a graduation requirement at SMLS, and our students are closely supported by our Global Citizenship Department throughout the process. Over the years, a number of students have gone on to earn their Silver and Gold Awards by participation in some of the optional excursions and trips offered at the school, including a dedicated Silver Duke experience in June. Engagement at the Silver and Gold level was slightly above our 5-year average.
100% of our graduating class in 2023-24 were Ontario Scholars.
Increased participation in SMLS’s Advanced Placement exams with higher averages than any of the preceding 5 years (3.6 versus 3.42).
A total of 46 graduates received 332 offers of admission from 60 colleges and universities around the world.
Before you can lead a community, you have to belong to one.
A sense of belonging starts early at SMLS. From the moment you arrive, you experience spontaneous moments of joy and connection that emerge from the corridors and common areas of our dynamic community of three schools. Friendships ignite quickly and mentoring happens naturally. Whether you’re a student or a teacher, getting to know one another comes easily in our close-knit school.
2023-24 Co-curricular Year Round Clubs, Councils and Teams
• Yearbook Committee
• Model United Nations
• Jack.org
• Hemline Literary Anthology Club
• Middle School Newspaper
• Middle School Math Club
• Senior School Math Club
• Middle School Chess and Cards Club
• French Choir
• Panda Club
• Stock Market Challenge
• Black Student Alliance
• Grads Giving Back
• Senior School GSA
• Biomedical Club
• Service and Sustainability Club
• Global Citizenship and Diversity Club
• Middle School Citizenship and Diversity Club
Community Highlights
From our annual Student Engagement and Wellbeing Survey, we are proud that:
• 90% of Senior School students feel a sense of belonging at SMLS
• More than 80% of our students report that they have at least one adult at SMLS to whom they can go for support
• More than 86% of our students feel SMLS is a safe and accepting place to learn
35 clubs and councils
94 new families
4 school wide “Big Sister/ Little Sister” events
20 community-wide chapels and assemblies
• Middle School Sustainability Club
• Middle School STEM Club
• Middle School Literary Club (Kids Lit Quiz, Battle of Books)
• Middle School Council
• Junior School House Council
• Athletics Council
• Social Council
• Senior School Arts Council
• STEMR Council
• House Council
• Middle School Arts Council/Open Studio
• Middle School Choir
• Debate Team
• Senior School Jazz Ensemble
• Middle School Dance Team
• Middle School Strings Ensemble
An education that lasts a lifetime.
In a distracted and rapidly changing world, our curriculum extends far beyond subject matter expertise to emphasize critical thinking, problem-solving and risk-taking. Our Signature Programs - including STEM + Robotics, Global Citizenship, Active Healthy Living and Arts + Design - do more than capture a student’s imagination. They inspire keen curiosity, deep work and determined persistence: the attributes that ensure a girl’s education will help her own the future.
Signature Programming Highlights
Our students participated in Global Citizenship experiences locally in Ontario, nationally in Quebec and Nova Scotia and internationally in Japan, Kenya, United Kingdom, Fiji, and Italy.
This year, SMLS Spartans represented 36 athletic teams and earned three school championships in:
• U12 Ultimate Frisbee
• U12 Swimming
• U12 Floor Hockey
Student performances and talent showcases included:
• 2 art exhibits
• 6 Junior School Productions
• Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman
• The Polar Express
• Finding Nemo
• Bunnies
• Matilda
• The Descendants
Collectively, students spent more than 150 hours preparing robots for competitions and 40 hours in outreach and preparation for the competition season.
Our SWAT 771 robotics team included:
• 70 Middle and Senior School students
• 8 industry and faculty mentors
• 2 multi-day regional robotics competitions
Each grade 11 student participated in a fully immersive professional internship experience. There were 45 internships supported by the following employers:
• Adamson and Associates
• Age Care Brant
• Amico Infrastructures
• Concept Computer
• Dr. Sharma
• Evergreen Academy
• Ford Village Dentistry
• Form and Pressure Productions
• Global News - The Morning Show
• Grey Gretzky Medical Centre
• Halton Environmental Network
• Hamilton Police
• Henderson LLP
• InSchoolWear
• iQuanti
• Kensington Health
• Kids Corner Medical and Dental
• LH Media
• Lighthouse for Grieving Children
• Lions Club Guide Dogs
• Madill Pharmacy
• Miix Analytics
• MP Anita Anand’s Oakville office
• Oakville Animal Clinic
• Oakville Community Foundation
• Oakville Galleries
• Oakville Trafalgar Eye Centre - OTEC
• Palermo Public School
• Pattison
• Romet Limited
• Sheddon Physiotherapy
• SMLS Junior School
• Taylor Smyth Architects
• The Brides’ Project
• The Medicine Shoppe
• Turning Point Children’s Therapy
• Virox
• West End Studio Theatre
• Wildwood Academy
• Zebra Technologies
Where students find the teacher they’ll remember forever.
Educating and championing young women is our vocation, and SMLS employees play an active role in co-constructing the learning and the community environment at SMLS. With an average tenure of 8+ years, SMLS employees serve as a guiding light, reassuring presence and indispensable resource in creating opportunities that help girls discover powers they didn’t know they had.
Employee Highlights
In the most recent Employee Engagement Survey, 91% of employees participated, providing invaluable insights and feedback about the organization.
Over 80% of employees said that they are respected at SMLS and feel that they can be their authentic selves at work. The most favourable ratings fell under the categories of Employee Wellbeing and Belongingness.
Other positive feedback included the pride that employees feel in working at SMLS.
Employees also had positive feedback about their managers indicating that they feel genuinely cared for and that they are comfortable approaching their managers with issues or concerns.
Nearly 90% of employees feel positively about their work at SMLS and believe that the work they do here is worthwhile.
We are forward-thinking and future ready.
Financial Results for the year ended June 30, 2024
The summary financial information set out below is derived from the 2024 fiscal year audited Financial Statements of St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School (“SMLS” or “the School”). The SMLS 2024 audited Financial Statements are available on request from the School.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, the school achieved a surplus of $1.3 million. Although enrollment was 16 students below budget, stronger than expected investment income contributed $627,000 to the operational surplus. An unrealized investment gain of $666,000 further boosted the overall surplus.
The Board of Governors sets aside surplus funds as restricted reserves for operating and capital needs, supporting the school’s future growth and stability. These funds can only be used for other purposes with the Board’s approval.
Total capital expenditures for fiscal 2024 were $0.6 million reflecting ongoing investment in the school’s facilities and infrastructure.
Liquidity and Outlook:
As at June 30, 2024 the School had $14.5 million in operating cash, allocated for working capital, facility renewal, strategic initiatives, and donor-restricted purposes. Additionally, the school held $14.7 million in internally restricted and endowment reserves, with the endowment supporting academic prizes and financial aid.
The School’s operating cash is invested in guaranteed investment certificates with Canadian chartered banks and Canadian government treasury bills. The restricted
and endowment reserves are managed by the school’s third party investment manager and are invested in a mix of fixed income and equity investments as per the School’s Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures.
The School’s financial goals are to maintain competitive tuition, enhance programs, build reserves for emergencies and future initiatives, and grow the endowment sustainably.
Audit:
The fiscal 2024 financial statements of SMLS were prepared according to the Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations (ASNPO). BDO Canada LLP issued an unqualified audit report noting no significant internal control weaknesses. The Board of Governors approved the statements on September 16, 2024.
