About Derek Logan

Kingsway College School Head of School

Thankful

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Derek Logan

I spent the majority of my Thanksgiving weekend in Montreal with my son whose soccer team was playing in the Quebec-Ontario Cup. Watching competitive soccer while experiencing the culture and food of La Belle Province — what a great time! The Ontario victory in the two game series, by a combined score of 4-0, made the chore of getting out of Toronto… on the eastbound 401… on a Friday night… of a long weekend… much more worthwhile.

But what happened on the weekend that made it really special and memorable happened on Saturday night. A number of the dads and coaches and I went out for the evening. During our conversations, I learned that all were newcomers to Canada in the last twenty years: Carlos (Portugal), Danny (Jamaica), David (Guyana), Johnny (Iran), and Mike (Poland). They all left much behind when they immigrated, but did so in the hope of a better future for themselves and their families. Many of their stories sounded much like those my grandparents had when they immigrated from England.

These dads and coaches were all appreciative of the chance to create opportunity for themselves in Canada over the last couple of decades. I was thankful to learn of their stories and to be reminded of what a blessing it is to be Canadian.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Recess Duty

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Derek Logan

Earlier this week, I happened to be reading my email around 12:15 p.m. when one of our teachers sent a message to the staff asking for someone to take her outdoor lunch duty as she was not feeling well. I read the email, checked my calendar to see if I was free, and given that the majority of our teachers would not have a chance to read this in time to help out, I replied that I would do it. My day, up to this point, consisted of back-to-back meetings so this was definitely an incentive to get outside, enjoy the sunshine and talk with the students. I was surprised by the reception.

Since I was “officially” on duty, and not just wandering around the field as I do a couple of times a week (especially when the weather has been as great as it has been this week!), I felt it was important that I put on one of our orange vests – or as I call it, my “orange cape”. Our teachers wear these at recess so that they are easily identifiable to the students. I want to point out, it clashed with my red tie and candy cane striped socks (gift from the in-laws), but I did it anyway. I now have a better understanding of the fashion faux pas each of our teachers are required to make while on duty.

My assignment was near the play structure, so for most of the time, I was surrounded by grades 1-3 students. I had the following interactions:

One girl in grade 2 asked me if I was on duty. When I said yes she responded, “Do you know what to do?” A short time later this was followed by yet another girl asking if I knew what to do on duty. I said yes and explained that I was once a grade 7/8 teacher at KCS. Her response, after a pause and a really puzzled look, was “Really?”
Two girls ran over to me giggling and asked, “Mr. Logan, can you keep a secret?” I told them no. Of course this didn’t matter as one of them told me that she really likes one of our grade 8 boys and is lucky enough to have him as her lunch time supervisor. I had no response, except to let her parents know so that we could share a laugh.
Another student looked at me from the monkey bar platform, and told me, in a tiny voice, that she couldn’t climb across all the bars but she was going to try. By the end of recess she had managed to hang from the bar and swing herself back to the platform. She was quite proud and told me so as we were walking up the hill to go back into the school.
I watched a girl in grade 3 spend her entire recess swinging across the bars, the rings and everywhere else she could find so that she was not touching the ground. This was the same student who took a tumble last week, which produced a goose egg on her forehead that she would sport in a wedding party on the weekend. The goose egg is almost gone, the wedding went well, and this little girl was not afraid to get “back up on the horse” after her misadventure. A lesson adults would do well to remember.
I also observed a boy who ended up with some sand in his eye as well as a grade 2 girl who showed me the scab on her hands at least four times.
I found a Batman umbrella owned by a grade 2 boy and decided we could get a great photo when we returned inside. The photo that accompanies this blog should be captioned, Batman and Robyns. You can probably guess why.

The surprises continued when I arrived back inside the school, this time from the teachers. “How was your duty?” (at least eight or nine times) … “When I read your response to the email, I thought it was a mistake.”… “I thought it was joke.”… “Are you going to do this again?”

I look forward to dawning the “orange cape” again at a future recess. It sort of made me feel like Superman.

Derek Logan
Head of School

They Grow Up So Fast

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Derek Logan

Today I was at the front doors as students and their parents began arriving for our annual Primary Project Fair. It was wonderful to witness the smiles on the faces – and that was just the parents! As usual the students put forth their best efforts to create terrific projects that each of them can be proud of, but there was certainly some sense of relief on the part of many parents that this project was over at least for another year, and maybe forever (if they no longer had any children entering grades 1-3 in the future).

As a Dad of a 15 year old and a 17 year old, I can certainly empathize with that feeling among the parents. I remember looking forward to the end of some project, recital, or experience with my kids. But this morning also reminded me of a couple of parents that I was fortunate to come across when my kids were younger who shared some advice that has stuck with me (incidentally, you get a lot of advice as a Head, some helpful). One of these individuals was a KCS parent, who I encountered early in my career at our school who said to me, “Before you know it, they will have grown up, and you’ll look back on these times more fondly than when you were going through them.” I have to admit, with my daughter about to go off to university in September, that message has come to mind many times during this, her grade 12 year. There are times this year when I wish we still had grade 13 in Ontario.

The other parent is somebody I have spent quite a lot of time with over the years as a result of my son’s soccer. One night, we were on the sidelines on a cold and rainy night, and I must have said something that sparked him to turn to me and say, “You only have a few years in your life to do this sort of thing, and when it’s over, you’ll miss doing it.” You hear a lot of things as a parent involved in minor sports with your kids, much of it not worth repeating. However, this comment really resonated with me both then and now. I’m already anticipating feeling like this even though we still have a few summers left of club soccer, and maybe some university soccer afterwards.

It was so good to see so many of our primary parents, grandparents and friends here today to show support for our students. Your memories of this project may be different than what your children remember, but I am confident you will look back on this time at some point in the future and miss it, at least a little.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Unforgettable!

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Derek Logan

Today we had the Women’s Gold Medal game playing on our televisions in the lobby and in various classrooms throughout the school. We all wanted to be in Canada Hall to witness this game today to recreate the feeling of ’72 that some of us can still remember; I was six and have a vague recollection of sitting in my school gym. However, we are in the midst of setting up for our annual musical next week and so we watched all around the school.

As we know, things didn’t look great for the Canadians with ten minutes left. But by now we know the memorable finish. Standing with the students and staff in our upper lobby and experiencing the energy was awesome.

I think Paul “Bear” Bryant, the former Alabama football coach had it right when he said about sports and its ability to bring people together, “It’s kind of hard to rally around a math class.” Let’s hope our men’s team can re-create the feeling again tomorrow in their game against the Americans. Maybe 20 years from now our students will remember where they were on February 20^th, 2014, when we won Gold.

Derek Logan
Head of School

A Dad’s Lesson

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Derek Logan

As is usual, when I arrived at work early Monday morning, I took the time to skim through The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star – I put the Sports sections of both papers along with the Life & Arts section from The Globe for reading later in the evening! Sometimes I cut a few articles out to read when I have a moment or two over the lunch period. On Monday, I clipped this article out:

http://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2014/01/20/how_do_you_raise_kids_to_have_good_manners.html

We expect good manners at KCS, and when we don’t witness them, we take the time to teach or remind our students about their importance.**

As I was nearing the end of the article, I was reminded of a lesson my Dad taught me during the summer of my grade 5 year. Our family was going on a three week vacation to England. It was our first and only trip on a plane together. And while I have many great memories of that trip, one in particular stands out. We were in London visiting various sites before we set off to visit our relatives throughout the south of the country. All five of us (I have a younger brother and sister), were sitting on the Tube. It stopped at one of stations and an “older” lady got on. Looking back, the lady may have been 35 or she may have been 75 (when you are a kid, everyone looks old!), but to my Dad that didn’t matter. He looked over at me, and said something like, “How long will it be until you stand up and give that lady your seat?” Only seconds it turns out!

It’s funny, my Dad taught me a lot of things in life (as did my Mom!), but for some reason the lesson above was triggered when reading the Toronto Star article on Monday and every time I’m on public transit around the world.

Derek Logan
Head of School

** For instance, if I was this author’s editor, I would have reminded him that you should not use WTF in your article if you are trying to show good manners.

How Do You Define Success?

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Derek Logan

This past Friday, at morning assembly, our school welcomed former Canadian Olympian Deidra Dionne. Deidra represented Canada during both the Salt Lake (2002) and Torino (2006) Winter Olympic games as a free-style (aerial) skier. She spoke to our students about goal setting, the feeling of being an Olympian, the importance of others in our achievements, and so many other insightful and important messages.

Deidra speaks to KCS.

Deidra, far right.

Deidra’s bronze medal from the Salt Lake Games.

The message that resonated with me centred on the definition of success. During her talk, Deidra mentioned her journey to compete in the Salt Lake Olympic games. She described how she and her coaches planned to get to her first Olympics so that she could eventually stand on the podium. She accomplished her goal by winning a bronze medal. By all accounts, people would consider that a success.

More importantly, she went on to describe her journey to Torino four years later. During training in Australia, she broke her neck. Given this, free-style skiing at the Winter Olympics in Italy would seem, to many of us, an unreachable destination. Not for Deidra. Once she decided she wanted to ski again, Deidra committed herself to get to Italy. And she did make it. After all of the jumps made by all of the skiers, Deidra finished 22nd in a field of 23. Given all she went through to get to Torino, she and her coaches, and all those who knew what she overcame to participate in another Winter Olympics, would consider this a success. And I think you would too.

In school, sometimes people equate success with winning awards, first place teams, and medals for some competition or another. There is no doubt you can consider all of those type of achievements success. This type of success is easily identifiable in assemblies and awards ceremonies. But there are so many other ways that our students should see themselves as successful: dealing with a difficult personal situation; overcoming a physical injury; doing something for the first time; improving their study or organizational skills, etc.

Deidra defined success in much the same way we’ve been defining success at KCS for 25 years: try your best in whatever you do. Success will follow.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Old Enough

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Derek Logan

Sometimes as Head of School you can get mired in financial spreadsheets, strategic planning discussions, evaluations, committee meetings, Board work, etc. Over the past 48 hours, there were a number of things that happened that helped to take me away from that part of the job for a moment and reminded me why I got involved in education in the first place.

Special Olympics Ontario

On Tuesday, our grade 8 students, one of our teachers and I had the opportunity to volunteer at a Special Olympics Ontario event held at the Toronto Police College. Our students were asked to be ambassadors and to help supervise the scoring and “refereeing” for a bocce ball tournament for approximately 75 athletes from local schools. As an admirer of Special Olympics from afar over the years, it did not take me long to say yes to the opportunity. It was such a wonderful day for me as it allowed me to spend time with the athletes, other amazing volunteers and staff from Special Olympics Ontario, and to watch our grade 8s actively, and with very little guidance, help to make the day a memorable one for all involved. To see the smiles on the athletes faces as well as on our students, ensured that this event will definitely fall into the top highlights for me from this school year.

Last night we had our first evening of parent/teacher interviews. It was enjoyable to have numerous informal conversations as parents came in about their son’s or daughter’s progress, their accomplishments so far, and what lies ahead academically. It’s also a time when we catch up on plans for the holidays, sports talk, and their impressions of the school year so far.

Finally, this morning I was at the front doors saying hello to students, families and staff as they were entering the school when the following encounter happened between myself and one of our grade 2 students. He bounded up to me after he got out of his family’s van, and without a hello, got right to the point.

“How old are you?”
“47.”
“You’re old enough to sit in the front seat.”
And then off he went into the school.

Now back to the spreadsheets.

Derek Logan
Head of School

The Pepperette Proxy

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Derek Logan

In the various communication classes and readings on the subject that I’ve done over the years, I have always been reminded that it is important to hit your audience early in order to get their attention. You can do this with a captivating story, humour, and many other techniques. So here goes. A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon, I received an email from our Director of Admissions and Operations that stated that one of our students was in the office, on the phone with his mother, because he had accidentally got a pepperette stuck up his nose. As I always say every year at grade 8 graduation, you cannot make this stuff up. My response to our Director: regular or spicy? I realize it’s hard to get this visualization out of your mind. My lunchtime hasn’t been the same since, although you should know that it all ended happily with a sneeze.

Now that I have your attention, and I know some of you will forward this on to some of your other friends at KCS, if you have not yet brought in your two proxies from your family for our Annual General meeting next Wednesday, please do so by the end of the day on Monday, November 25^th. This is very important, and we appreciate you helping us out. If you’ve misplaced your blue proxy forms, you can pick up another one from the main office. I’m sure our office staff will share with you their memories of that day a couple of weeks ago.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Remember

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Derek Logan

Our grade 8 students led our annual Remembrance Day assembly on November 7^th. It was filled with music, visual art, poetry, drama and memories of trips to the Canadian battlefield sites in Europe. The students respectfully asked us to remember the sacrifices and the courage of Canadians throughout the years and to work for peace. In short, the assembly was poignant, heartfelt and meaningful to all of us who were in attendance.

On the topic of Remembrance, earlier this year a friend of mine forwarded me this link to a site entitled, “The Fallen”. It is worth a visit.

Derek Logan
Head of School

There Was A Buzz Around Here Today

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Derek Logan

Today was an amazing day at KCS. Five of our teachers, including myself, had their heads shaved in support of The Terry Fox Foundation. You can see the before and after photos below and on our KCS Facebook page and through our KCS Twitter feed.

We set a goal at the beginning of the school year to raise $25 000, and if we reached the goal, the six of us had agreed to have our hair cut by Cos and Jackie from Cos on the Kingsway Salon/Spa. To see the excitement in the school leading up to today was tremendous. The students would come up to the each of us and say things like:

“Are you looking forward to having some taken off the top?”
“I can’t wait to see you bald!”
“Bzzzzzzzz.”
“Can ‘I’ cut your hair?”
“It’s going to get cold soon.”
“Hope you are enjoying your hair as its going to be gone soon.”
And my favourite, “Isn’t this great that we are helping people and their families who have cancer?”

Achieving a goal such as raising over $25K takes a little effort from a lot of people. We realize how our the parents, staff and faculty helped us raise the $25 000. A special thanks to our students who opened up their piggy banks, who asked for money for their September or October birthdays in order to donate it, and who went out into their neighbourhoods and asked for donations. It just goes to show that when many people contribute to a cause by doing what they can, it is possible to accomplish wonderful things.

Derek Logan
Head of School