We are honoured and proud to announce that Linden's Athletics Director Deidre Macpherson has received the prestigious Prime Minister's 2020 Certificate of Achievement for Teaching Excellence!
The phys ed teacher everyone deserves growing up
"I have had the pleasure of working with Deidre for almost two decades, and have long admired her commitment to girls' healthy development, her creativity, and her ability to inspire girls of all levels of experience and ability. She is the phys ed teacher everyone deserves growing up. I was thrilled to nominate her, and so pleased that the PMA committee saw what we all see at Linden every day: Deidre is a world-class teacher." — Beth Alexander, Director of Teaching and Learning, The Linden School
The certificate honours Deidre's innovative approach to inspiring and empowering the entire student body to embrace athletics without the fear of try-outs and cuts. Deidre is responsible for building The Linden School's sports culture from scratch. Before she joined the school in 2003, Linden had never won a sports award; it now holds 33 championship banners, and 90 percent of middle and high school students are on a team. From the very beginning, Deidre has intentionally referred to all students as "athletes" which has helped change students' mindsets about how they view themselves and their athletics abilities, inspiring them to hone their skills. She has also coached their parents on ways to encourage their children to feel comfortable trying new things without fear of embarrassment.
"With any other coach we would not have even tried out for fear of embarrassment and failure but because of Deidre's encouragement, both of us joined extra-curricular sports for the first time," say two of her students.
