Mme Margaret Dorrance
Mme Dorrance has been the Head of School at the Calgary French & International School since April 2012. Since accepting the position, Mme Dorrance has applied her collaborative and visionary leadership towards making the school the national leader in French immersion and international education.
Margaret has a more than 35-year history of leadership, academic and professional development excellence in the independent and public school community.
In her early professional years, Margaret was a teacher, earning her bachelor of arts with honours in French and Spanish as well as a bachelor of education degree at the University of Western Ontario. She applied her passion for languages in the classroom and began to recognize the impact an individual could have on others as a teacher.
She taught and trained others within all levels of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme in both French and Spanish and implemented language-centered travel studies cultural trips for her Spanish and French classes.
Quickly moving into positions as a leader, Margaret held educational leadership postings with the Calgary Board of Education at Western Canada High School and Lester B. Pearson High School.
Immediately prior to accepting her position as Head of School at the Calgary French & International School, she worked for Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School in Okotoks, Alberta. There, Margaret served as Director of Academics and then as Director of Curriculum and Instruction, implementing many forward-thinking professional development initiatives and spearheading the school’s Leadership Institute project.
Margaret completed the Leadership Diploma through the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools Leadership Institute, and was a participant in the inaugural year of the Next Steps program. She has provided leadership and expertise to local, provincial and national educational initiatives, and has participated on CAIS review teams.
Margaret is committed to life-long learning and thrives in the dynamic professional education environment within the Calgary French & International School, which provides an opportunity for growth and challenge for her and her staff.