Staff

Cate Allen

Headteacher, Head of Middle School, Teacher

BA (Nottingham), PGCE (Trent), M.Ed. (Nottingham), 2 years Doctoral Studies (East Anglia)

Cate taught ages 4 to 11 in a school in Britain before immigrating to Canada and joined Dalhousie University School in 1991.

Heather Beall

Elementary Teacher

B.Sc. (York), B.Ed. (Colorado)

Heather worked as a child care and caseworker at Browndale in Toronto for three years before moving to Boulder Colorado where she obtained her B.Ed. She taught there for 4 years at the Vidya School and then came home to Nova Scotia where she joined the Dalhousie University School in 1990.

Leigh-Ann Bishop (On-Leave)

Middle School Math and Science Teacher

B.Sc. Chemistry (UNB), B.Ed. (Mount Saint Vincent)

Leigh-Ann did her final 3 month teaching practice here at Halifax Independent and then joined the staff in August 2006. She was Captain of the MSVU volleyball team.

Cléo Burke

Elementary Teacher

BA (UVic), BEd (Queen’s) with Outdoor/Experiential Education

Cléo recently came to us from a small, parent-led independent school in Haida Gwaii, BC. There she taught grade 4-7 in a multi-level classroom for three years.

Heather Cameron

Middle School Math and Science Teacher

B.Ed from Acadia and a Masters in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Toronto

Heather Cameron is taking over from Leigh-Ann in Middle School this year.

Megan Colwell

Pre-Primary Teacher, Childcare co-ordinator

BAA Child and Youth Studies (Mount Saint Vincent)

A recent graduate from the Mount, Megan spent a year (2005-06) at HIS in charge of our Childcare programme before becoming a Littles Teacher.

Stephanie Conrad (On-Leave)

Youngs Teacher

B.A. (Mount Saint Vincent), B.Ed. (Mount Saint Vincent)

Stephanie worked in the Littles and Afterschool programmes at Halifax Independent School before going back to school to study education. After doing her second year teaching practicum with us, she joined the staff as a teacher in 2004.

Tania DesRoches

French Teacher

B.A.Hons. (King’s), B.Ed. (Saint Mary’s)

Tania taught Junior High French for five years for the Halifax Regional School Board, Elementary French for 2 years in Fredericton and ESL in Lithuania for one year. She joined Halifax Independent in January 2004.

Alana Doucette (On-Leave)

Pre-Primary Teacher

BCYS (Bachelor of Child and Youth Studies – Mount Saint Vincent)

Alana owned and operated her own pre-school before joining Halifax Independent School in 2002.

Laura Dowling

Elementary Teacher

B.A. (Kings), B.Ed. (MSVU)

Laura spent a term as a student teacher at H.I.S. in her last year at Mount Saint Vincent, and joined the teaching staff in September 2008.

Maggie Duinker

Music Teacher

BA Music (Western Ontario), Diploma (Kodaly Institute, Hungary), B.Ed. (Dalhousie), ECE (St. Joseph’s)

Maggie taught private piano and theory lessons as well as pre-school music classes for 25 years before joining Dalhousie Co-operative School in 1998. Currently she plays in several bands, sings in choirs and plays the piano.

Christy Elliot

Elementary/Gym Teacher

B.Ed (MSVU) , M.Sc (Oregon State), B.ScK. (Dalhousie)

A recent graduate of Mount Saint Vincent, Christy joined the teaching staff in September 2008.

Molly Hurd (On-Leave)

BA (Queen’s), B.Ed.(Acadia), M.Ed. (Ottawa)

Molly taught in Northern Canada and Nigeria for six years and worked in the School Programme at the International Education Centre (Saint Mary’s University) before joining Dalhousie University School in 1992.

Heather Johnson

Deputy Headteacher, Elementary and Middle School Teacher

B.A. (Mount Allison), Certificate in Environmental Education (Algonquin), B.Ed. (Mount Saint Vincent)

Heather worked as a Natural Heritage Educator for the Ontario Parks System, and as a teacher/naturalist at the Museum of Natural History before coming to Halifax Independent in 2002. She is an active member of the Nova Scotia Children’s Literature Round Table and the Atlantic Geoscience Society Education Committee.

Nissa McKeen

Assistant to our Administrative Assistant

Jane Mitsiopoulos

Littles Classroom Assistant

B.A. (Acadia)

Jane was an active volunteer and parent at H.I.S. before joining the staff as Childcare Co-ordinator in September 2008.

Mandai Mohan

Art Teacher

B.Sc. (Acadia), B.Ed. (Mount Saint Vincent)

Mandai worked at the Nova Scotia Museum for 3 years before obtaining her B.Ed, She joined the Halifax Independent School in 2001.

Jill Morgan

Elementary Teacher

B.A.A. Child and Youth Studies (Mount Saint Vincent), B.Ed. (Calgary)

Jill co-ordinated the Childcare programme at Halifax Independent in 2004-05 before joining the teaching staff as the Olds Teacher.

Dawn Sinclair

Pre-Primary head, Pre-Primary Teacher

BAA Child and Youth Studies (Mount Saint Vincent)

After 3 years teaching at the Family Resource Centre in Dartmouth, Dawn came to HIS in 2002.

Evan Throop-Robinson

Elementary Teacher

Evan has a B.Ed from Queens, a Masters from the Mount and is in the process of completing his Ph.D from the University of South Australia.

Evan is new to the Elementary Department this year; he is teaching Math to both Elders classes and Theme to his homeroom Elders class.

Valerie Walker

Administrative Assistant

B.A. (Dalhousie)

Valerie home-schooled her three boys before they all joined Halifax Independent School in 2001.