Goodbye, Mr. Bradley!!!

After 8 wonderful years of working at ISB, our high school principal Mr. Bradley will be leaving leaving at the end of this school year. He will be moving on to another school to help make a difference there. To find out more about this, PantherNation had the opportunity to sit down with him and ask a few questions.

Where I’m going is to Doha, which is the city that is part of the country, Qatar. I was looking at several schools in several different countries. Some in Switzerland, Germany, and this particular school just represents a very different challenge for me. It is something I have never done before and it is very rare because this is a school that does not really exist yet.

It is going to start from nothing, so I have been hired, and my first job is to hire administrators to help hire more teachers. It is just the opportunity to build something from zero, rather than taking over a great school. ISB is a great school, but it is already here. This is a very different opportunity.

When I walked through the doors of ISB, it was already a great school. One of the things I am happy with is that many people would still look at the high school and say it is a great place to be in, there is good learning, there is great athletics. But of course, that is not my achievement, that is just who we are. But, I think keeping that going is really important.

I think one of the things I would like to try and bring to this community is fun. We have worked really hard, the teachers here work very hard, but we always have fun. There are times when it is not fun, of course, but I think that is an achievement. I think certain things have changed a little bit in my time here. Some of the work that we do in grading and assessment has changed, we have had things like the new advisory coming in, which I think is a really good change.

I think, again, that the focus on being a more caring community is good, and we have become a more inclusive school. The number of IB students has doubled in the time I have been year. Those are some of the things that I think are great. It is never down to one person, but I have been part of those changes, so that is what I am very proud of.

There has been lots of things that made me laugh. Everyday, I laugh at something. A couple of years ago when I walked into this office in the morning, I found two very large geese sitting in a paddling pool in a pen in my office. They were real live geese sitting there, I do not think they were very happy.

That was a very funny moment because it linked back to an assembly I had four years before with that particular class — that was the class of 2014. When they were freshmen, I had given them an assembly. They were joking all the way back to this assembly when we were talking about geese.

Yes, I think ISB has been a challenging place to work because we have big ambitions, and we have lots of different people. Most of the people in our community share the same ambitions, but at times, there are disagreements on what is the best way to get there. Everyone would agree where we want to end, whether it is a parent, a teacher, or a student. We know we want to be at this finish point, but sometimes we disagree on the best way to get there.

Sometimes there are some very hard decisions to be made. The worst decision every principal has to make is when they are saying goodbye to someone who does not want to leave the school. Those are very challenging situations: saying goodbye to people when they do not want to leave, and trying to come to an agreement on the best way to do something.

Part of who we have been as a high school is that we are a team. You employ people over the years, and they become part of your team. Ms. Canobie is the latest person to join the team, before her Mr. Vaughn, before that Mr. Rogers. There are also new teachers who go into the team every year. So, you evolve because all these different people you bring in have different strengths. They all have something you have not thought of before, and do something a different way. So, slowly, you evolve.

If there is one area rather than in general, I hope that I have become more patient. Over the years as a leader, I have evolved to be a little bit more patient and able to see things a bit more slowly.

That is a sad question! The thing that makes me sad is that this has been my family’s home. For the last 8 years, this has not just been my place of work, this has been the place where my kids have come to school, where my wife worked. I think we will all look back and think ISB was more than just a school we went to, it was more than just a place where we earned money, it was the place we were together as a family for the last time.

My son has gone to university in England, my daughter has gone to university in Canada, and now we are going to go somewhere new. So, it is a big change in our lives. We have never ‘camped’ at ISB. Some people still see their home as their home when they work in different places. However, I do not consider my home to be England. That is where I come from, it is probably where I will live one day, but this has been my home with my family for 8 years. That is what I will miss. Knowing I am saying goodbye to that part in my life is a sad thought.

I think that like many people when they leave ISB, they appreciate this idea of being a Panther. There have been hard times here, and also times when I have been very happy. I think that expression,  “Once a Panther, always a Panther”, will be the thing that I share with anybody. Whether you have been here for one or two years, or some people have worked here for 20 or more years, that thought is an important one to me.

Leaving here is not easy, it is a big decision. But, sometimes you have to make brave decisions. It is easier to stay doing the same thing, but I think this is an important message to all of us. Some of the moves we make in our lives are forced because we come to the end of high school and we have to leave. Sometimes, we actually have to make active decisions to challenge ourselves. I would say to all the students, and anyone here, sometimes you have choices. Some are easy, some are hard, but be brave!

Thank you, Mr. Bradley, for setting such a good example for everyone in the ISB community. Let us all take his advice and find opportunities to challenge ourselves. We will miss you!

Nikki Ling