BY JENNIFER CHORNLEY The VOICE
Janice Sergeant has been an educator for the past 18 years with the District School Board of Niagara, the past three years as principal.
This year, Sergeant joins the E. L. Crossley community, arriving from Welland’s Eastdale Secondary School, where she was principal for two years. Eastdale is where she initially started her education career as a teacher in 2002.
After some time as a teacher, Sergeant moved forward and became Vice-Principal at a number of schools throughout the Niagara area, including Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls, Thorold Secondary School, Sir Winston Churchill in St. Catharines, and Beamsville Secondary School.
For Sergeant these schools encompassed a variety of educational settings that offered “Lots of different experiences leading to E. L. Crossley.”
Her main teaching focus is English and History, however throughout her career she taught Social Sciences, was a Special Education Resource Teacher, and a Student Success Teacher.
“I loved being a teacher, and even though it’s different fulfilling a role such as principal, I enjoy a collaborative, inquiry-based learning model,” she said.
For Sergeant in all of those roles, it’s about supporting the students in a variety of ways.
“It’s maximizing their potential with the understanding that everyone starts in different places and get to them as far as we can together.”
Sergeant describers her leadership skills as being involved, positive and optimistic.
“I enjoy working with people and in education you build relationships with students, families, community and amongst staff,” she said. “The better relationships you can build, the better success you have to grow.”
She is also very involved in a collaborative, co-teaching approach. Sergeant collaborates with with teachers and instructional coaches from the school board to work with students in class to assess their needs. With this, they plan and develop programming to help meet their needs.
“It comes down to looking at the individual learner,” she said. “When you know your learner, you are going to do a great job to using the skills and strategies to meet their learning styles and needs.”
Staff professional development is based on a cross-curricular literacy program, supporting literacy skills in every class.
“Literacy is the foundation to all learning.”
Upon arrival, Sergeant immediately saw that E. L. Crossley is a “big busy place where great things have been happening.”
With 800 students, it is a school offering a variety of programs and extracurricular activities for students in academics, arts, athletics, science, and a Specialized School to Community Program.
One unique program Sergeant highlighted was the Link Crew, a group of 50 Grade 11 and 12 students that mentor Grade 9 students.
“It is a strategically-structured program designed to support their transition into secondary school and to create strong peer relationships. It’s creating a culture of caring”
She said the Crew organized team-building before school started to get to know the group leaders, and did activities so the kids felt comfortable with the school. After the first day of school, the Link leaders personally phoned the students to ask how their first day went, and have involved them in activities since then
Sergeant is also looking forward to the upgrade of the school’s outdoor field from grass to turf that will accommodate soccer, lacrosse, outdoor volleyball, and new running track.
A new addition to the school’s activities is the cheer squad, which was able to perform at the school’s first-ever pep rally, organized by the School Student Council during Spirit Week.
“The hallways were coloured with gold and purple. When the squad came out to make their first performance, the kids went crazy, it was really great.”
“Every school has its own unique flavour, and here there’s always something happening. It’s a big school physically and population-wise. It’s a great size, it’s wonderful.”
Sergeant said that her first year as principal will be learning about the school, including the programs, students, strengths, and needs.
“It’s really important to build on strengths and we are very lucky this school has a strong, committed staff that cares about the kids,” she said. “I have been at awe about everything that is happening. So, I don’t have any plans for change at the moment.”
“You really feel the vibe in the school it is a positive pulse,” Sergeant said. “It comes down to how the staff are supporting the students and in turn, how the students support one another.”
Sergeant’s mother is a retired teacher, and her sister is also secondary school teacher. Even with the other teachers in the family, her current career choice wasn’t what she initially wanted to pursue. She was going to work towards being an accountant, but, “that job wasn’t nearly social enough for me.”
During university, she took a course in Canadian history and “fell in love with it.” From there, Sergeant went to teacher’s college and did her placements.
“When making the decision, I thought back to my school experience and loved the art of storytelling,” she said. “As a teacher, you get to engage and connect with people. It was at that point where teaching is where I wanted to be.”
“I love working with kids.”
Sergeant said she believes she came in at a great time to follow along her journey as an educator and teacher.
“I like seeing kids becoming the best versions and I enjoy guiding them towards doing that.”
