Leadership interview with Phil Davies, Bond Academy

The big thing about Bond Academy is the holistic education. So we're interested in the social and academic progress and growth of our students.

I love working with students. Initially, when I got into teaching, it wasn't just about academics and the social aspect. When I was in high school, I had social anxiety, so I wanted to learn from that and assist students at Bond Academy through my own experiences. So that's one thing I love about it. I love the challenge. It's a fast-paced job being principal. There are a lot of different hats you have to wear, a lot of decisions you need to make very quickly and work with a lot of staff. So I love that challenging aspect. I just love working with youth. I think it's such a vibrant time to be alive, which is inspiring for me to see. So in a way that can also keep me young in some sort of way, too, because you always see that positive enthusiasm that they have.

Bond Academy is an elementary and secondary school, so there’s a very vibrant culture, very busy, and there are always activities going on. The Bond Academy community is very close. So if there's an elementary event on, it wouldn't be uncommon to see secondary families or students involved. There are a lot of extracurriculars. It's a very close-knit community.

I liked the Bond Academy program already, so I didn't feel there was anything that needed to be changed. I just wanted to put my own stamp on it. Initially, we were a language-intensive school, and I wanted to attract more local students. Bond Academy worked with a marketing firm to identify our top four demographics. So we created an academic program catered to those demographics. We have built our local population up quite a bit.

Bond Academy brought in an elite basketball team. That was something that I wanted. I felt that was a cool, unique thing about our school. There are very few programs like this in Toronto as far as basketball. We're working with a company called Phase One, which are former Olympic and NCAA athletes, and they're the coaching staff for this elite team who have been travelling around North America last year. This year was the first year, this academic year that we ran the basketball program. They competed in Phoenix, Michigan, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Montreal against different elite teams. They played a team in the Bahamas, where our entire school, elementary and secondary, were there to cheer them on. It's a really great atmosphere.

Bond Academy offers quite a few AP courses, but we're also an AP testing facility. That's another advantage for our students, because they don't have to look elsewhere for a testing facility. Going to another testing facility takes travel time during school days to do so. So students can take the courses at Bond, but they can also be tested there, which makes it much easier for them.

Currently one-third of Bond Academy students are boarding students, international students. We also have a lot of students in homestays, but we also have that large component of local students. So it's kind of split in those three demographics.

Bond Academy’s international students and local students mix very well because international students want to learn English. Since there is group work in classes a lot, it's an opportunity for our local students to lead. It's a great chance for our local students to build their leadership and teamwork skills. Then, as the international students learn more English and become more confident, I find that they're fully integrated into the school quite quickly because they work together so well. There are also a lot of extracurricular programs that we run for the integration to occur.

Bond Academy has a lot of sports and arts programs. We do intramural sports with elementary and secondary combined so that our teachers, students, and sometimes even parents will play together in different intramural sports leagues. It's a real communal atmosphere. There are also many volunteer opportunities in our elementary division for our secondary students, so they get welcomed in the environment quickly and work with families quite quickly.

Bond Academy does the Terry Fox run together, everyone from Kindergarten to Grade 12. We enjoy doing that program together, and it's an extremely worthwhile cause that sets the tone for the year. We also have a barbecue at the start of the year that involves both programs. We have the intramurals, so we run a lot of those kinds of programs with both elementary and secondary programs.

Bond Academy has a lot of volunteer opportunities for secondary students to assist in the arts programs and some of the extracurriculars in elementary. Sometimes there have been opportunities for secondary students to tutor or mentor elementary students. We try to combine programs as much as possible. We have something called the Grade 7 to 10 Team Building Day, which we run in September. It's a series of outdoor events that they do together to build that middle year's program as well.

The average class size at Bond Academy is 12 to 15 students, depending on the course. So it's an opportunity for students to excel in small classrooms where their voice will be heard by the teachers and get a lot of one-on-one time with the teacher. Our secondary program also offers an additional two hours of after-school tutorial time. So from 3:40 pm to 4:15 pm every day, all teachers are available in the classrooms for an additional tutorial. Then from 4:15 pm to 5:15 pm daily, we have a study hall for science and math and another one for English and social studies, where there's an opportunity for students to work on their homework with a teacher present to assist with any questions. So that additional two hours after school daily, combined with the small class size and the small student-teacher ratio, really gives the student a unique opportunity to have a lot of experience one-on-one with the teachers.

Bond Academy tries to accommodate all students. As a small school, one of the challenges we have is running Applied courses. We run all the Academic courses, but running Applied courses has been difficult with class sizes, and the availability of classrooms. So we do offer Applied courses, sometimes in a one-on-one or group setting, but it has been difficult to offer all courses in Applied. Most of the courses at Bond Academy are Academic.

Families typically want to be involved in the school. So a lot of Bond Academy families are involved in extracurriculars. Our Parent Council is very involved in the school, and there are members from both our elementary and secondary program on that Council. So they'll plan family fun nights in June. Typically, we'll have an outdoor festival for the whole school called ‘Bond Fest,’ a giant party outside where there's a lot of different vendors brought in and such. So there are art nights, spring and fall concerts, and Christmas concerts.

There are a lot of different opportunities at Bond Academy for families to be involved. We typically attract families who are very hands-on, want a great education, and a holistic experience for their sons and daughters. It's not just academics that are vital, but also the social aspect. So there's a lot of community involvement in volunteer work that draws a lot of the families to Bond.

Bond Academy always wants the teachers, the parents, and the students to work together because, academically, that gives the student the best chance to maximize their opportunity for success. We also realize many of our families are very busy, so some have more involvement than others. I would say that they're all involved to a degree. Most are quite involved, but we also accommodate any family based on their needs. We do realize that not all families can be as hands-on as some others.

When dealing with interstudent conflict I'd hear both sides of the story. If there is an issue between students, I like to address the issue, and bring the students together who are involved in the conflict. A big part of that is to help them work it out themselves. I don't just want to tell them ‘this is your punishment’ or ‘this is the outcome.’ I want Bond Academy students to help work out any issues together and come to peaceful mediation. Then they're learning from any mistake made, but they're also building those bridges between their peers again, so there are hopefully no issues going forward. I like the students to be involved in problem solving, address whatever the issue was, and think about how they could have done better. I'm a big proponent of not approaching someone when you're mad or emotional, but instead walking it off, listening to music. When the emotions are running high, that's not the time to have conversations.

I address parental issues by hearing the parents' side. I would listen to whoever else is involved on the other side. I'd listen to all sides first. Typically, I bring them together, if that's the best avenue, and work out together how we can solve the problem going forward, so it's not something that continues. I like to act quickly if there are complaints, because we don't want something to fester. The advantage of having such a close community  as Bond Academy has is that everybody knows each other. So if any issues arise, they can usually be solved more quickly due to that.

Bond Academy has a very high percentage of our students that go to university, almost 100%. The University of Toronto is a massive destination for our students, as well as the University of Waterloo, and McMaster University. I would say those are the big three for many of our students. Ryerson University is another one, as well as the University of Ottawa.

A big thing about Bond Academy is the holistic education. We're interested in the social and academic progress and growth of our students.

Bond Academy does a lot of programs for battered women’s shelters and providing Christmas for families who otherwise may not be able to have one. We work with a lot of local charities and we take a lot of our Christmas concerts to the senior's homes. I think that leading by example and serving the community is the best way to teach our students and provide that holistic education. That's something that Bond Academy is very big on.