May 2026
If you’ve been following the story of MBCI through the last several years, you may already know that we’ve been experiencing steady growth in student numbers. In 2021 – 2022, MBCI had 393 students. For 2026 – 2027 we are looking at 630 plus students, which is an historic high.
This is an exciting trajectory for us! We have worked hard to implement the best of what we know about how students learn and grow, and to tend carefully to the “soil” in which character and faith are able to take root.
This work is at the core of our identity and built into our mission as we seek to provide an education focused on learning, growth, faith in Jesus Christ, leadership, and community. It is, in part, the community and culture we are building at MBCI – as learners, families, and staff – that draws people to this place.
Growth is good for us as a school. It provides the opportunity to strengthen and deepen our course offerings, programs and co-curriculars, and it enriches our school community. Growth for its own sake is not the goal, however, and it is important that we also safeguard the kind of student experience that has led to this growth in the first place.
Building and maintaining a healthy community and school culture is the most essential work that allows all these other things that we do to flourish. Culture and community do not happen by accident, and instead require vigilance, careful listening, discernment, and a commitment to addressing individual needs within the context of the whole.
They also require us to acknowledge the gap that can exist between vision and reality, leaning into challenges and hurts rather than avoiding them.
So what does it mean for us to flourish as a school?
Our daily work at MBCI is to build a culture, a shared way of behaving and communicating with each other, with the capacity and resilience to demonstrate care, grace, and love in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
Our choices of how to treat each other come first and do not depend on the circumstances of any particular day. Our students hear this message in chapels, Crew meetings, classes, and co-curriculars. In all of these culture-building contexts we learn, together, of God’s love for each one of us, and practice the grace we are called to extend to one another.
This work requires investment from all of us including time, creativity, courage, and energy. And it is worth it.
I’m often asked, “what do you enjoy about being at MBCI?” and “why are so many people wanting to come?”
My answer is this:
We believe a Christ-centered school needs to be a place where students feel seen, heard, and supported. And we believe all of our work channels toward that goal.
Is it impossible? Maybe.
But it is worth every moment of trying.
The words learn, love and engage guide us in this work. They came first from a staff exercise through which we named how we will behave and communicate together. This statement resonated so deeply that it became the anchor for our vision statement and now shapes how we walk with our students. These words reflect our commitments as people of faith and as educators. We have the privilege of connecting learning with character and with the teachings of Jesus, and when that happens, learning becomes transformative.
This is the story of MBCI – a story which includes you as alumni. As a school we are looking toward the future and our sightlines right now are planning for 100 years and beyond! We will honour our legacy while continuing to imagine what is next.
We are committed to a flourishing MBCI. We are committed to our mission, to the work ahead, and to nurturing the kind of school culture that we will need to sustain this work.
You are always welcome here! We hope this newsletter gives you a glimpse into how students learn and grow at MBCI today and you are invited to reach out if you want to know more.
