About Us
Maple Bear schools offer full Canadian programs utilizing Canadian methodology and curriculum developed by our own experts from the ground up for preschool, elementary, and high school.
We take our responsibility to our students and their parents very seriously. Strict quality controls ensure we deliver the very best Canadian practices in education.
There are currently more than 52,000 students in 547 Maple Bear Early Childhood, Elementary, and High Schools operating in Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Brazil, China (Mainland and Hong Kong (SAR)), Guatemala, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA, and Vietnam.
We will be opening soon in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Greece, Iraq, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Uzbekistan.
With its founding roots in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Maple Bear Global Schools team members and faculty work and live in many different provinces across Canada. We have offices in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, as well as subsidiary offices on all continents.
The Story of Maple Bear
The idea to develop Maple Bear Canadian schools grew out of the work of the Canadian Education Centre Network (CECN), a non-profit organization supported by the Government of Canada and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada which was mandated to market Canadian education abroad to attract foreign students to study in Canada.
Maple Bear was born after CECN managers overseas recognized there was a domestic demand for high quality, bilingual Canadian education from emerging middle class parents, many of whom had studied outside of their own countries in general and in Canada in particular.
The first Maple Bear Canadian School to open was in Indirapuram (New Delhi), India in 2005.
In 2007, Maple Bear became a privately owned company with a dozen schools operating in Korea, Brazil and India. Those numbers quickly changed as news of the excellence of Canadian immersion and bilingual education spread, especially among parents who could see the positive outcomes in language, learning and behavior of their children.
Today, there are 547 schools in 39 countries with more than 52,000 students studying at Maple Bear schools worldwide.
We invite you to join the Maple Bear global family as an owner, a student, a parent, a teacher or a member of the Canadian faculty.
Founders
Rodney Briggs
Co-Founder & Board Member
A graduate of the University of Manitoba with an MA in Political Science, Rodney served as a Canadian diplomat from 1981 to 1996 with postings to Canada's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the Kingdom of Thailand, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea. He also served as President of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
In 1996, he joined the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada as the Vice-President responsible for the Canadian Education Centre Network project and in 1997 became the first President of the newly-formed non-profit company, the Canadian Education Centre Network. In this capacity he was responsible for building the network from three centres in the Asia-Pacific region into an entity with a presence in 17 countries spanning the globe. While with the CEC Network, Rodney conceived and developed the Maple Bear education system. In March 2007, he purchased Maple Bear from the CEC Network.
As President of Maple Bear Global Schools he traveled extensively, expanding Maple Bear’s global footprint to over twenty countries.
In March 2021, Rodney retired from his operating role as President & CEO of Maple Bear Global Schools. He remains active as Board Chair and a shareholder in the company.
Gerald Macleod
Co-Founder
Gerald Macleod held both a B.A. and B.Ed from the University of Saskatchewan, a Masters degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, and a Masters of Education (second language and immersion specialization) from the University of Manitoba. In addition he held a Diplôme d’études françaises from the Université de Poitiers, and a Diplôme d’études internationales et du développement from the Université de Toulouse, France. He also received numerous academic awards, including the Government of France scholarship for Graduate Study in France.
His education credentials were extensive, beginning as a teacher in Montreal, Saskatoon and Winnipeg; as Vice-Principal and Principal at all levels of the Winnipeg school system and as a university professor of Education Administration at the Collège universitaire de Saint Boniface, Manitoba.
Gerald served as School District Director of International Education in Winnipeg; Director of International Education in the Department of Advanced Education for the Province of Manitoba, and as a consultant in international education globally. He frequently presented on international education topics to teachers, principals and school boards.
Gerald passed away in early 2021.
Maple Bear Faculty
The University of Winnipeg Faculty of Education and Maple Bear Global Schools have been in academic cooperation since 2014. The Faculty of Education at The University of Winnipeg delivers General Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Education (PBDE) courses online and in-person to students who have been admitted to programs offered in collaboration with Maple Bear schools. A number of Maple Bear teachers have graduated with a PBDE through The University of Winnipeg Satellite Teacher Education Program offered in various schools throughout Brazil.
Giving Back
As part of this commitment, Maple Bear also believes in giving back in the countries in which we operate by donating charitable funds to local education initiatives impacting on children and families.
In addition to funding projects, the Maple Bear curriculum incorporates themes of social responsibility and community service so that students at Maple Bear schools are exposed to the concept and undertake age appropriate activities. The goal is to turn a whole generation of students on to the joy of giving back.
