November 2026

Message from Admissions

Maggie Houston-White, Executive Director of Strategic Enrolment Management

I hope you have been able to visit our campus this fall, whether through a tour or during our Open House. Hearing families marvel at our 22 acres and world-class facilities always fills me with gratitude for the spaces our students enjoy each day. However, at the very heart of Havergal is a commitment to educational excellence that goes far beyond exceptional facilities.

Our faculty are dedicated professionals who know, value and care for every student —supporting areas of growth while stretching students where they excel. Inside our classrooms, students build confidence and resilience, maintaining their innate curiosity as they discover their own pathways to make a difference.

In this issue, you will see this academic mission in action. You will learn how our Junior School students benefit from Integrated Arts and how Senior School students challenge themselves through programs like AP Capstone. You will also see why our students hold their teachers in such high regard as you read Mr. Shum’s article on building math confidence and Mr. Nguyen’s piece on developing the intellectual confidence to excel on any stage.

While our social media feed is often filled with highlights of our athletes, musicians, artists, debaters and designers, it is the everyday celebration of our students’ scholarship that truly defines the Havergal experience. I hope these stories offer you a deeper glimpse into the vibrant learning community our students and faculty build together every day.

Warmly,

Maggie

Message from the Dean of Academics

Lam Nguyen

Learning is far more than receiving information; it is the process of understanding ourselves and others, continually growing and being inspired and equipped with the agency to make a difference. From JK to Grade 12, Havergal’s intentionally designed classroom experiences centre on student ideas, curiosity, critical thinking and confidence at every stage.

Across all grades, these principles come alive through daily experience. Young students in the Junior School examine their own ideas collectively to build early confidence, while hands-on STEM experiments foster learning through design and iteration. In the middle grades, students learn to analyze their own executive functions to strategize, optimize understanding and transfer skills — learning that growth is a messy, rewarding process. In the senior grades, students feel prepared to actively pursue their unique passions and choose to specialize in a variety of enriched experiences and advanced courses.

These experiences directly cultivate what visiting educational consultant Eric Hudson recently highlighted: that productive struggle is key to learning in the age of AI. While technology makes acquiring information effortless, Havergal’s approach ensures that students embrace struggle, risk-taking and iteration as essential steps to growth. This depth of learning relies on relational environments where belonging is key. Supported by peers and teachers, girls feel safe taking risks, making mistakes and learning with and from one another, fostering lifelong curiosity and confidence.

How AP Capstone Nurtures Tomorrow’s Thinkers

Jennifer Goldberg, Director of Academics

Advanced Placement (AP) is an enriched program, offered worldwide, that provides students the opportunity to engage with the content and skills of first-year university courses while in high school.

Havergal’s liberal arts program has long been committed to cultivating thinkers capable of producing and defending academic research; the AP Capstone Diploma is one powerful example. The courses that make up this two-year diploma — AP Seminar (Grade 11) and AP Research (Grade 12) — have students undertake deep, sustained work on a topic they’re passionate about, each one a scholar working in community to explore some of the defining questions of our time. The culmination is an academic paper of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 words, accompanied by a presentation with an oral defence.

For students, AP Capstone nurtures enduring and transferable learning for university and beyond: the ability to conduct comprehensive literature reviews, evaluate complex sources, collect and synthesize data, and develop and defend original arguments orally and in writing. In addition, working directly with external experts and faculty mentors as they pursue their original research teaches students to navigate professional relationships, accept constructive critique and independently direct long-term projects.

AP Capstone is open to all Havergal students. Last year, over 40% of our Grade 11 class chose to rise to the challenge. As we confront the risks of cognitive offloading to AI, AP Capstone is one manifestation of the many ways human curiosity, abstract thinking and independent reasoning remain at the heart of a Havergal education.

Connecting through Culture: Integrated Arts in the Junior School

Rachel Read, Grade 5 and 6 Integrated Arts Teacher

At Havergal, we believe students thrive when they feel a sense of belonging — seen, safe and equipped with tools to explore the diversity within our community and beyond. Throughout the Junior School, students are empowered to express their emotions and identity through our vibrant arts programs.

One aspect of the Havergal College Arts Program is the Grade 5 and 6 Integrated Arts course. At the heart of this program is the understanding that all art flows from culture, which informs traditions of dance, drama, music and visual art, and provides the historical and personal context that enriches the creation and appreciation of art- making. Within integrated arts, we have an opportunity to explore culture in more authentic and complex ways than we could within a single artistic discipline. Not only do we explore art traditions, but also history, storytelling and personal experience. This exploration is supported by our Artist in Residence program, where students work closely with experts who introduce cultural understandings alongside specific artistic expertise.

We’ve been fortunate to learn alongside Cree-Métis artist educator Marissa Magneson, who shares Métis culture, music and art-making; Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo, who introduces the culture, music and dance of Ghana; Olivia Wheeler, a theatre artist specializing in shadow puppetry who shares her family’s immigration stories; and Doug Goodkin, an Orff-Schulwerk educator who teaches jazz through storytelling and music. Through these learning experiences, students see themselves and their own culture and art-making traditions reflected in the classroom, which is especially powerful. These experiences not only build our artistic skills and cultural knowledge, but also provide us with the capacity to approach the world around us with an open heart and the drive to make a difference in the world.

The Path to Math Confidence

Alex Shum, Head of Mathematics

While instructional approaches in mathematics constantly evolve, our core guiding principle remains unchanged: placing students at the centre of their learning. We believe every student can succeed, and we shape our program to build confidence, agency and an appreciation for math as both a lens and a language.

In the Middle School, classroom teachers and support specialists collaborate to provide small-group instruction, delivering a personalized balance of challenge and support within every unit. Students quickly learn that being a “math person” is a myth — growth comes from engaging in well-designed lessons, collaborating in productive struggle through problem-solving and practising these skills deliberately.

As students enter the Senior School, they can choose — and switch — between Grade 9 and 10 Core and Extended courses without limiting future pathways. Extended courses dive deeper into advanced topics, while Core courses continue to deliver upon Havergal’s signature high academic rigour. Unlike traditional streamed programs, both Core and Extended preserve equal access to all Grade 11 and 12 offerings, including AP Calculus and AP Statistics.

Across all grades, students engage in hands-on, real-world sense-making, whether analyzing food price equity between Northern and Southern communities in Grade 8, using trigonometry to measure inaccessible objects in Grade 10 or designing long-term financial plans using geometric series in Grade 11.

At Havergal, students see math as relevant, accessible and empowering.

Something Incredible is Waiting to be Known

Greg Ryerson, Junior School STEM Coordinator

As a Science teacher, one particular quote that has always resonated with me comes from astronomer and planetary scientist Carl Sagan: “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

In the Junior School, STEM learning focuses on active, hands-on exploration. By conducting experiments, our young scientists have the opportunity to learn through doing and — by engaging in the engineering design process — they are able to design prototypes in pursuit of solutions to real-world problems.

Recently, the students in Grade 5 have used the STEM Lab to explore properties of, and changes in, matter. Through a series of hands-on investigations, students observed firsthand how chemical reactions can produce a gas, evidenced by bubbling and fizzing, and a measurable decrease in mass. They then applied these observational skills to analyze known substances and successfully identify an unknown sample.

Whether they are building structures to test stability, exploring their connection to the natural world around them or discovering how simple machines are used in everyday scenarios, students continuously refine their ideas through trial, iteration and collaboration. This process transforms curiosity into confidence. By giving students the freedom to experiment and learn from failure early on, they gain the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to navigate an ever-changing world.

Empowering Students to Excel on Any Stage

Lam Nguyen, Dean of Academics

At Havergal, academic excellence extends far beyond the classroom. Encouraged to apply their learning on local, national and international stages, students showcase critical thinking and mastery across diverse disciplines.

In STEM, Havergal takes an intentionally inclusive approach. Every student in Grades 7 to 10 writes at least one external mathematics contest from the University of Waterloo, where Havergal routinely ranks among Ontario’s top schools. This past year, Havergal earned the distinction of being the top all-girls school in the Pascal contest. Our Science students also excel in Toronto Science Fair competitions, the national University of Toronto Biology competition, the University of Waterloo Chem 13 Exam and the Sir Isaac Newton Physics exams.

This excellence spans the humanities, business and classical languages. More than 60 students qualified for the DECA provincials in business, with 12 students reaching the international contest and securing two 1st-place finishes and two top-10 global placements. French students regularly earn playwriting awards through Théâtre Français de Toronto and the Chinese Bridge Competition. Classics students earn top honours in national Latin and Medusa Mythology exams, while English students earn top honours in regional creative writing and poetry contests.

By stretching their skills across subjects, Havergal students build intellectual confidence, pursue their passions and excel on any stage.

Beyond the Application: What I Actually Learned at Havergal

A Student Reflection by Kylie C., Grade 8

It was Saturday night when I was sitting in my room in front of my computer filling out my application for Havergal. “What is your favourite subject?” was the first question I answered.

I’ve always loved science because of all the facts that it taught me. But now, we go beyond just learning facts. We are given the opportunity to work hands-on with experiments, form our own hypotheses and test our ideas while building on our theories. Prior to joining Havergal, I felt that science was very much a left brain only subject. After my first year at Havergal, I learned that science is as much of a right brain subject as left. You work with factual numbers and calculate more while also brainstorming theories and asking questions.

The next question on my application was about participation in extra school activities. I always participated in various sports and had major stage fright. Because of that, I was too scared to even think about performing. However, after I signed up for the play, I discovered that I love performing just as much as I love sports! At Havergal, there are many opportunities to put yourself out there and be involved. I look forward to writing about all of my experiences at Havergal on my university applications!

Meet Our Faculty

Gaven McDonald, Middle School Science and Grade 12 Physics Teacher

Mr. MacDonald is a Middle School Science and Grade 12 Physics teacher at Havergal College, as well as the faculty lead for the school’s Robotics Program. Driven by a passion for hands-on learning, he supports students in discovering how things work and encourages them to explore the real-world applications of science.

His diverse background, which includes teaching under both the British and International Baccalaureate curricula, allows him to bring fresh perspectives and innovative learning approaches into the Havergal community. Beyond the classroom, Mr. MacDonald has shared his technical knowledge globally by creating educational YouTube videos about electronics.

Prior to joining Havergal, Mr. MacDonald spent 10 years teaching at an international school in China, an experience that enriched his perspective on global education and sparked a commitment to maintaining his Mandarin language skills. Back in Toronto, he stays connected to the community and nature by exploring the city by bicycle and going on canoe trips with his family.

Meet A Havergal Graduate

Errita Xu, Class of 2024

My time at Havergal taught me to ask good questions. It was a place where my curiosity was not only welcomed but encouraged and fulfilled. I found it in the Science Department, where I spent hours designing a macroalgae farm to clean polluted urban water and testing alternatives to road salt. I also found it in Harkness discussions in my humanities classes. In my first computer science class, I discovered that code could be as creative as any art form.

Currently, I’m studying Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Vanderbilt University, where my curiosity continues to grow. Whether I’m researching how AI models understand documents or interning on a product team, I’ve learned that not knowing is where the interesting work begins. I’m not afraid to ask questions, change direction, or take on problems I don’t yet know how to solve, because I’ve seen how much I grow from them.

As Head Teaching Assistant for an introductory programming course, I watch students work through the same uncertainty I once did. I try to give them what Havergal gave me: room to be curious, permission to not know yet, and someone in their corner while they figure it out.

Every day, I’m still doing what I learned at the lab bench and around the Harkness table: asking questions, listening, and figuring things out together.

The Student Experience

Student-Centred Learning at Havergal

At Havergal College, students are at the heart of everything we do. In this video, our faculty share how student-centred learning takes place in their classrooms and how it prepares our graduates to be thoughtful, compassionate and confident as they go out into the world.