Grenville principal awarded outstanding achievement award

While tighter budgets and changing technology makes it difficult for public schools to keep up with changing standards, one little school in Grenville has learned the secret to success means staying closely integrated in its community and retaining a staff that treats its students like family.

Last month, Grenville Elementary School principal Nancy Bennett was named as one of Canada's top 40 principals by The Learning Partnership, a national non-profit organization dedicated to championing a strong public education system in Canada.

Bennett, a Vankleek Hill resident, is a devoted teacher who advocates staying abreast of new technology and being connected with the students she teaches. She was the only principal from Quebec to be recognized for this prestigious honour and her nomination represents one of only a few publicly-funded schools to be chosen.

Bennett has dedicated herself to teaching for the last 20 years, including her transition to principal six years ago.

"I was head teacher here for nine years and I was really well trained by the principals who were here, so for me, the transition to principal was a smooth one," she said, adding the best advice she received as a new principal was to make sure her small school stayed in the limelight and was noticed by fulfilling a big project each year.

"When I took over being principal, I really wanted to make this a high-tech environment and I was advised by our technical support specialist to make a three-year plan and stick to it."

As a recipient of this award, Bennett has been invited to attend a five-day executive leadership training program at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. She will then be inducted into the National Academy of Outstanding Principals at the end of February. The 40 selected principals will also participate in a year-long online forum where they will discuss leadership issues in education.

"Being a principal is not an easy job," said Bennett. "It's very rewarding when it goes well, but very hard when it doesn't."

The principal equally acknowledged the support of her staff: "It's the staff I work with on a daily basis that makes this school special. They take on all kinds of challenges and just forge ahead. We do so many projects and the staff is always so willing to share their special talents."

Since she has taken over as principal, Grenville Elementary has grown from the smallest school in the school board - one which appeared at risk of closing - to its crown jewel, with high grades, new technology and a rising enrolment rate. With just 83 students, the small school is quickly reaching its 90-child capacity.

"Walking into that school, you would think you were walking into the 22nd century," said Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board chairman Steve Bletas. "In an area where it is really economically depressed and pre-dominantly francophone, she is making that school operate tremendously. If we could have a Nancy in all of our schools, we would be humming."

Grenville Elementary represents an example in which split classes can work, according to Bletas, particularly when mixed with technology and good teaching habits.

"It's a small school, but I'm a fan of small schools," he noted. "Even kids with special needs are showing direct improvement. We've had the Ministry of Education visit that school and everyone is amazed by the results."

In addition to introducing televisions and robotics to Grenville Elementary, Bennett has also fought to raise funds for Smart Board technology in each of her classrooms. She is currently fundraising for the final Smart Board, which she says helps to engage her students and improve their education.

Bennett is a pioneer in introducing pre-kindergarten classes to the Quebec school system and her littlest students are entering kindergarten organized, attentive and ready to read.

A teleconference centre enables Grenville students to travel the world and receive tutorials from museum curators, artists and educators that would otherwise be unavailable.

"Our kids go all over the world with teleconferencing," said Bennett, citing a recent example in which her pre-kindergarten class used the technology to travel to Alaska to study puffins in their natural habitat.

Museums can sometimes be expensive to network with, so the ever-resourceful Bennett has equally reached out to her own community to find ways to connect her kids with new experiences.

As a native of Vankleek Hill, Bennett's sense of community is a large one. In a few weeks, she will use those connections to provide her students a better understanding of veterinary medicine, when they digitally travel to the Alexandria Veterinary Clinic for her dog's full checkup.

"Using the teleconference centre, the children will be able to follow us through the entire visit, including using and reading the x-rays and administering shots," Bennett explained. "They can meet recovering animals afterwards and we will be able to see and communicate from both sides."

When asked what she has planned for the future of her school, Bennett replied, "I plan to continue making this the best school I can."