About Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart
"Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value."This quotation from Albert Einstein hangs on the wall in Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart and I find myself referring to it almost every time I am visited by a prospective parent when they ask, as they often do, "what makes this school different from the others?" After all, there are many good schools to choose from and even more that promise to make your son or daughter successful. And bringing them success is, of course, a good thing.
But the quote from Einstein, I think, reveals a deeper truth. Success is not enough. We all want our children to be successful, but we also want them to be young men and women of value. We want them to examine themselves and to rise to their potential, not just in the academic sense but as human beings as well.
I think that this is the mission of Sacred Heart education and what sets it apart from most other schools. Here, in our weekly chapels, in our classroom discussions, on the playing fields, and in the hallways, we strive to bring values to the fore and examine with each other the higher ideals that speak to life well-lived.
Great schools don't seek merely to inform, but to inspire. Great schools aren't simply stepping stones on the path to wealth, but guides on how that path should be walked. Great schools don't just focus on the successes of their students, but also on the strength of their character.
Robert J. Marchand
Principal, Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart
rmarchand@shsh.ca
Robert Marchand is a native of Halifax and a highly qualified teacher and school administrator with twenty years of teaching and management experience within the public and independent school systems. He is a results oriented and dynamic leader with a passion for education, having taught at elementary, junior high and senior high school levels.
In addition to undergraduate degrees in English literature and education, Robert has a M.Ed. degree, with a specific concentration in education psychology, all from Dalhousie University. When his interest in independent school administration began to grow he returned to university part time to obtain his M.B.A. from St. Mary's University.
Robert is married and the father of two boys and he believes that, "Sacred Heart is uniquely equipped to meet the intellectual, physical and spiritual needs of boys."
