Sponsored Content
It’s an empowering culture at St. John’s-Ravenscourt

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2026 (206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Science lessons are out of this world at St. John’s- Ravenscourt School (SJR).

When Kaitlynn Buffie asked about sending a weather balloon, loaded with cameras and sensors, up to the edge of the stratosphere as a project with her Grade 7 and 8 students, the response was immediately enthusiastic at the Winnipeg independent school. Soon, her students were calculating flight paths, launching the balloon from eastern Manitoba, then trekking across a farmer’s field to retrieve it — along with images of the upper atmosphere and the curvature of the Earth.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for the students; however it’s expensive and there’s a lot of expertise that goes into a project like this,” says Buffie. “But anytime something is good for students and professional growth, it is supported.”

Buffie, who joined SJR last year to teach middle school, is now a senior school science teacher and head of the science department. She says the feeling of belonging began even before she set foot on campus. Hired in the summer, she received a video from a colleague she had never met, welcoming her to the school.

“I immediately felt included and excited to start,” says Buffie, who found that supportive culture continued throughout the school year. “Teachers are very passionate people. In many other schools, there are barriers to truly enjoying your job. At SJR, most of those barriers have been removed so we can create enrichment experiences. It opens up the opportunity to focus on teaching.

“You have more prep time, more access to resources and additional learning opportunities. Everything that you would want to have to become the best teacher you can be is available to you.”

As middle school principal, Steve Landreville sees his central role as empowering the teachers around him.

“We are constantly assessing how professionals use their time and build in more prep time so they can create enriched experiences for the students,” he says. “Teaching is hard, and in five years, teaching will be even more complex. We need to recognize teachers as professionals and allocate more time and resources so they can be builders and thinkers — not go home and be doing the work at 10:30 at night.”

One of his favourite aspects of the job is listening to people like Buffie outline a plan to send something to space and track it — and have the kids do the work.

“My instinct was to support it, then get out of the way and let this passion run wild,” says Landreville. “I want teachers to be seen and heard. I want them to feel valued. They are the experts. It’s my job to empower, support, and remove barriers.”

Landreville has been at SJR for 16 years, having joined straight out of university, and never looked back. The school fully funded his post‑baccalaureate and master’s programs and now he “signs off on those regularly” for his faculty. In his division alone, he notes, “I have five faculty working on their master’s, fully supported by SJR.”

He attributes much of his own career success to the mentors he had at the school who encouraged him to pursue his “North Star.” Today, he extends the same support to his staff, protecting time in his mornings for informal “collision coffee” conversations and building a collaborative culture where everybody has a seat at the table.

“Culture does not take shape without purposeful, deliberate intention,” says Landreville. “We are very intentional about booking off our time to connect — whether that’s taking 230 students to camp as a grade retreat or organizing social outings for staff and their families. For me, this is more than a job, this is a community.”