News
Strategic Plan Update - September 2026 - Issue 2
When King’s-Edgehill launched our new Strategic Plan in May, we knew that its success would not be measured simply by the words on the page. It would be measured by what our students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors could see and experience across our School.
Only a few months later, that work is already well underway. Some of the changes are large and immediately noticeable. Others are quieter improvements that may seem modest on their own. But together, they tell a much bigger story: our Strategic Plan is coming to life, one thoughtful improvement at a time.
Our plan is centred on three principal priorities: academic enhancement, student well-being and belonging, and responsible energy transformation. Each of these priorities is already shaping decisions and investments across campus.
Academic enhancement is about creating spaces and opportunities that support how students learn today and, just as importantly, how they will learn in the future.
One exciting example is our new recording studio, located in the Fountain Performing Arts Centre, which has already been enhanced with new acoustic sound panels. The studio creates opportunities for music, recording, podcasting, interviews, electronic music creation, and other forms of communication and creative learning.
Improvements to the Fountain Performing Arts Theatre lighting are similarly helping us strengthen the spaces in which students perform, create, collaborate, and build confidence.
We also continue to explore the future of our academic spaces and how our campus can best support excellent teaching and learning in the years ahead.
Our second priority, student well-being and belonging, extends far beyond buildings even though the physical environment in which students live and learn matters enormously. Across campus, there has been a steady stream of improvements.
Milner House has received significant exterior work which includes gutters and fascia, dormers, and siding. Buckle has been re-sided and freshly painted. Stairs have been resurfaced in the Junior School and several residences, shelving has been added in Richardson House, new common-room furniture is planned for McLellan House, and fans have been added to warmer dorm rooms.
The parking area near the Ted Canavan Athletic Centre has also been enlarged, while improvements to the Stanfield Dining Hall continue as we look for ways to enhance one of the most important gathering spaces on our campus.
These projects may not all make headlines, but they matter. They make our campus safer, more comfortable, more functional, and more welcoming.
A tremendous amount of credit belongs to Brandon Jodrey and our Facilities team, whose constant care and attention make these improvements possible. Their work touches virtually every part of School life.
Of course, belonging is about much more than facilities. We continue to reflect carefully on the entire student experience, including the development of strong advisor and dorm-parent teams. Our goal is simple but important: that every student at KES feels known, supported, valued, and surrounded by adults who genuinely care about their happiness and success.
Our third priority, responsible energy transformation, is also becoming increasingly visible. New heat pumps in the Junior School are improving heating and air conditioning while helping us reduce our reliance on oil. This represents an important step in the gradual electrification of our campus.
We are also working with a wind-power company to explore the purchase of renewable wind energy while continuing to investigate the potential development of a solar field on School property. Our hope is to understand whether KES could ultimately generate significant clean electricity while potentially producing more than we require at certain times and returning surplus energy to the electrical grid.
At the same time, initiatives such as our EcoSchools work and pollinator gardens allow students to see sustainability happening right outside their classroom windows. Responsible energy transformation will not happen through one project. It will come through a series of thoughtful decisions about how we heat our buildings, use electricity, manage our property, and invest for the future. Perhaps that is the most exciting part of the months since our Strategic Plan was launched.
A sound panel in a recording studio.
A safer staircase.
A more comfortable dorm room.
A heat pump replacing some of our dependence on oil.
A pollinator garden.
A better-lit theatre.
An improved gathering space.
Individually, these may appear to be small changes. Yet, together, they represent momentum. They are creating a campus that is safer, more comfortable, more sustainable, more inspiring, and increasingly equipped to meet the needs of the students of today and tomorrow.
Our Strategic Plan was never intended to sit on a shelf. It is intended to guide decisions, inspire investment, and help us continually ask how King’s-Edgehill can become an even better place to learn, live, work, and belong.
Only a few months into the plan, there is already much to celebrate and tremendous reason to be optimistic about what comes next.
Please stay tuned for more updates!
King’s-Edgehill School is located in Mi'kma'ki, the unceded ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq People.
