Elmwood Leadership

Leadership Team

Elmwood School is run by a diverse team of passionate, experienced educators and seasoned business people. The team is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the School, under the guidance of Cheryl Boughton, Headmistress. The Head is appointed by the Board of Governors and is accountable to the Board.

Headmistress - Cheryl Boughton

Cheryl brings more than 12 years experience in progressively senior roles managing independent schools. Prior to joining Elmwood, she served as Deputy Head at Bedford Preparatory School in Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, an independent boarding and day school for 1,100 male students.

Previous to Bedford, Cheryl spent eight (8) years working in all-girls' schools in the United Kingdom. Educated at Queen’s University and the University of Toronto, she began her career teaching English and History in the Ontario public school system.

Deputy Head - Kate Angell

Kate holds a Bachelor of Arts (Oxford), Postgraduate certificate in Education (Cambridge) and Masters in Educational Administration and Policy Studies (McGill). For the past 19 years, Kate has worked in the independent school environment in Canada, US, and England where she has taught History and English at the Junior and Middle School levels.

Kate’s administrative style is founded upon collaboration and connection. Kate believes that at the heart of the educational model is the individual student, and any vision moving forward must take a holistic approach to education.

Director of Academic Counselling - Donna Naufal Moffatt

Donna Naufal Moffatt has been a familiar face at Elmwood since 1997. She has been a teacher of Physical and Health Education, English, and History in both our Middle and Senior Schools, as well as serving as our Dean of Student Life from 2004 – 2006 and our Director of Admissions from 2007 – 2010. Now Donna is bringing her passion for educating girls to a new role as our Director of Academic Counselling.

A graduate of the University of Ottawa (Bachelor of Physical Education) and Queen's University (Bachelor of Education), Donna was the recipient of the prestigious Joseph Klingenstein Fellowship at Columbia University where she successfully achieved a Master of Arts in Private School Leadership in 2003.

Director of Advancement - Ellen Ewert

Ellen is responsible for all fundraising activities that will benefit Elmwood School including the building of an Endowment Fund. Ellen is a seasoned fundraising and management professional with a solid 20-year track record.

Ellen’s previous positions were Chief Development Officer of the National Arts Centre Foundation, Vice-President of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, and Managing Director of The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre Foundation.

Ellen is a "Certified Fund Raising Executive" (CFRE) and she was honoured as “Outstanding Fundraising Executive” by the Association of Fundraising Executives, Ottawa Chapter in 2000.

Ellen obtained her Master of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa in 2002.

Director of Admissions - Dana Lynn Borschewski

Dana joined Elmwood in January 2010 as the Director of Student Recruitment, and transitioned into the role of Director of Admissions over the summer of 2010. She comes from a similar role within the Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy, managing their Ontario campuses, while based out of Toronto.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo, and Massage Therapy Diplomas in Ontario and Alberta. She combined her love of travel with work experience, living in Taiwan for 3 years providing writing, editing and broadcast services for a publishing company, as well as managing a gym prior to moving to Toronto in 2007.

Dana is passionate about the all girls’ educational experience, student life and athletics. Most recently, she became the head coach and impetus behind the Elmwood Eagles Rowing Crew.

Director of Communications - Teresa Stirling

A creative professional with over a decade of solid advertising and marketing experience, Teresa brings her in-depth knowledge and strategic thinking to Elmwood’s internal and external communications.

Prior to joining the team at Elmwood, Teresa worked at one of Ottawa’s pre-eminent advertising firms, creating and producing campaigns for both local and national clients, including Rideau Centre, Ottawa Tourism and Canada Post. She began her career in Toronto, at Young & Rubicam, one of Canada’s largest advertising agencies. In addition, Teresa has taught writing in the Advertising Program at Algonquin College.

Teresa is a graduate of Carleton University (BA Honours in Mass Communications) and Humber College (Post graduate Diploma in Copywriting).

Director of Finance and Administration - Tanja Mackin

Tanja joined Elmwood prior to the 2008 – 09 school year and quickly became an integral part of the Senior Leadership Team. Tanja is responsible for financial and human resource management for the School, as well as leading the Administration, Food Services and Facilities team.

Tanja came to Elmwood from Canadian Interuniversity Sport, where she was Director of Finance and Administration. A Certified General Accountant, Tanja has leant her skills to a number of volunteer organizations, including Ottawa Therapy Dogs and the Royal Ottawa Hospital Volunteer Association.

Prior to earning her CGA designation, Tanja attended Concordia University, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Art History.

Director of Information Technology - Matt Perreault

A creative professional and self proclaimed computer nerd Matt Perreault brings his in-depth knowledge as a computer programmer and ICT teacher to Elmwood’s technology department.

Prior to joining the team at Elmwood, Matt worked at The Bilingual European School in Milan Italy as the ICT Coordinator. He began his career in working as a computer programmer for the Department of National Defence, helping to program web-applications, which facilitated communication for the Disaster Assistance Response Team. In addition, Matt is also one of our Junior and Middle School ICT teachers.

Matt is a graduate of Queens University (BSc Honours in Computer Science, BEd).

Dean of Student Life, Middle School - Frances Marchand

Frances Marchand has been a familiar face at Elmwood since 1997. She has been Elmwood School’s psycho-social counselor, a teacher of Physical and Health Education and Guidance classes in both our Middle and Senior Schools, as well as the IB CAS Coordinator, Educational Plan Coordinator and Risk Management Officer. Mrs. Marchand was instrumental in developing the Duke of Edinburgh program from 1997 until 2009 to one of the most successful programs in schools in Canada. She has served as mentor, counselor, teacher, advisor, Head of Guidance and currently since 2010 as the Dean of Middle School Student Life.

Mrs. Marchand is a graduate of the University of Ottawa (Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing) where she completed a three-month outpost nursing consolidation stint as a Nurse Practitioner in Harbor Deep, Newfoundland. She also has completed post graduate studies in counseling at St. Paul's University and a Certificate in Rehabilitation at Seneca College. Mrs. Marchand is a trained Conflict Resolution Facilitator and Crisis Response and Safe Schools staff leader.

Dean of Student Life, Senior School - Andrea Kelly

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Education in Intermediate/Senior Geography and History from Queen’s University. She also completed her Masters of Education in Organizational Studies at the University of Ottawa. For the past nine years Andrea has taught in a variety of educational communities. She started teaching in the United Kingdom before returning to Canada to teach and housemaster at Trinity College School, an independent boarding school outside of Toronto. She joined the faculty at Elmwood in 2006.

Andrea believes in the importance of seeing students as individuals and encouraging them to follow their passions. She also believes in the power of conversation to resolve differences and improve learning by developing strong relationships.

IB PYP Director - Christine Blackadar

Christine is an Elmwood Old Girl who returned to the School to teach Grade Four in 1999. Due to her previous experience working in the technology field at Industry Canada’s website—Strategis, she transferred to teaching ICT at Elmwood. She taught ICT from SK to Grade 5 for a number of years and has witnessed incredible changes in the program. For the past few years, she has been working as the PYP Coordinator in the Junior School as well as continuing to teach technology and library classes. She feels privileged to be able to work with wonderful girls from the Junior and Middle Schools and greatly enjoys sharing her love of reading, running, and creativity in a variety of co-curricular activities. Christine is a graduate of the University of Ottawa (B.A.,B.A. Second Langauge Teaching, B.Ed.)

IB MYP Director - Johanne Laflamme

Johanne has over 15 years of experience within the IB-MYP, working as a moderator, guide writer and workshop leader in humanities, and as a coordinator for the MYP programme for 6 years. Her specialty is measure and assessment, and docimology and she worked with the Québec Ministry on a teachers' guide for criterion-based assessment. Before coming to Elmwood, she taught for 17 years—most of them in international schools—including École Internationale de Montréal, Collège Ville-Marie, Collège Saint-Louis, Académie Antoine-Manseau.

IB Diploma Programme Director - Shelley Barton

Shelley Barton believes that one of the best ways to serve students is to provide them with an education that extends well beyond the classroom and one that prepares them to participate in a global community. With international teaching experience in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Pakistan as well as a number of years in Ontario independent schools, Shelley Barton is using this experience to administer the International Baccalaureate programme at Elmwood School. In addition Shelley teaches mathematics and philosophy. She has a Bachelor of Science degree (Specialization Mathematics) and a Bachelor of Education degree both from the University of Alberta. She has also completed her Master’s in Counseling from Monash University in Australia.