WELCOME TO MILLPOND ACADEMY
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to create a school that focuses on a Whole Child approach to education. Our students will have a solid grasp on the foundations of Mathematics, Writing, Reading, Science and Technology, but also they will develop into exceptional human beings that are passionate, empathetic and have integrity. Everyone has their own strengths and interests and it is important to discover these and use them to foster a love of learning! Having small class sizes enables flexibility and focus on each individual child and allows our students to make these discoveries. Building strong relationships with our students and fostering a safe environment, where students feel they can take risks, will allow each child to excel and flourish. Our students learn from the combination of effective and traditional educational approaches, technology, as well as unique collaboration and presentation opportunities.
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid"
Albert Einstein
HISTORY
Millpond Academy opened its doors in September 2020. Learning began in a small house that had been transformed into a flexible educational space. With only 10 students, in Kindergarten to Grade 7, and one full time teacher we got off to a very unique and engaging start! Students would learn from each other, work in small groups with the teacher, or work independently completing different activities and exploring through different learning challenges that were presented to them. After only one month in school there was already enough interest from new families to hire a second teacher! A weekend of drywalling and painting lead to the creation of a whole new classroom space for our new teacher who would be working with the now 7 kindergarten students. We quickly realized that space was limited in the school house and began the search for a new location, this is when we found 590 Adelaide Street, Woodstock. At the time, the building was being used as a hair salon but with a fresh vision and a lot of hard work it was renovated into a spacious and functional school building, the second home of Millpond Academy. We moved over Christmas Break and after navigating through the added difficulties of Covid-19 we completed a safe and successful year. We were able to celebrate our accomplishments with our first annual Garden Party with our families. Over the summer our school community grew and we started the 2021-2022 school year with 3 full-time staff members and almost 30 students! We continued to learn and explore, build community and grow throughout the ups and downs the 2021-2022 school year brought. As the goal was to continue to grow, I was always on the lookout for the perfect location, which I found that June. I purchased a building and again transformed what was a 3-bedroom home into our next school building, now located in Innerkip. We started the 2022-2023 school year in our forever home, currently small but with the potential to grow! I am so excited by the community of supportive, caring and creative people we have formed over these first few years. It has been a very exciting time for Millpond Academy and we are so excited for the growth, and opportunities the next few years will bring!
The future vision for Millpond Academy is to continue growing our community into a school of approximately 75 students and 5-7 full time staff members. I strive for our school to always be one in which every teacher knows every student by name and our building feels like an extension of your home. To facilitate this many people we will need to put an addition onto our current building...stay tuned!
How Millpond Came To Be
My passion for teaching began when I was only a child. I loved being able to help out in the classrooms at my elementary school and loved the excitement and proud feeling I was overcome with after helping a child learn something new. Fast forward many years, after completing my Honours Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Studies and Bachelor of Education, I decided to combine my loves of travel and exploration with my passion for teaching, so I went to work in London England for a year. This experience reiterated for me the joy of teaching, yet also the limitations of working within a system. Upon my return from England I was lucky enough to be introduced to my mentor and inspiration, Sandra Hurley. I was hired by Sandra to work at her school. Although the building was not shiny and new, it was filled with passion, love and inspiration that anyone could recognize as soon as they walked in the doors. Over my three years working with Sandra, I fell in love with the safe and supportive family atmosphere, unique learning opportunities, and aim to teach beyond the Ontario Curriculum. Since working with Sandra I have also had the opportunity to work as an Occasional Teacher for both the Avon Maitland District School Board and the Upper Grand District School Board and yet again I was faced with a struggling system. In this particular year, there was a work to rule action from the teachers union, which then led to a full teacher strike, meaning myself and the students were unable to be in the classroom for many days. After the strike was finally over and the union came to an agreement, a new challenge arose, the COVID-19 virus which required the schools to close and online learning to commence. After suffering through this year in the public school system, alongside students that were missing out on invaluable time in the classroom and families that were struggling to teach and work from home, I decided I needed to make a change. That change is Millpond Academy. A new private school, where I can provide a safe, consistent and inspiring learning environment for young people. That is why I am eager and excited to continue this journey of building Millpond Academy.