After four years leading Toronto’s St. Michael’s College School, veteran Catholic educator Pat Daly is bringing a long career dedicated to forming young people in faith and academic excellence to an official close at the end of this school year. 

Appointed in 2022, Daly became the 31st principal in St. Michael’s 173-year history. He joined the midtown all boys' school from his role as Halton Catholic District School Board’s director of education, where he spent four years leading more than 4,700 staff and serving nearly 37,000 students in 56 Catholic schools in the region west of Toronto. 

Since taking the helm at St. Michael's, Daly has embraced the chance to return to school-level leadership after serving in a multitude of positions that touched seemingly every corner of Catholic education. 

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“It was a true joy to come back and work with students, parents and teachers on a more personal basis than I had in my previous role. The opportunity to work with the Basilian Fathers was also something I got a lot of joy out of and was something that was new to me,” Daly said.   

“Overall, being part of a really outstanding and supportive community who are all deeply invested in the success of the school made my time here really enjoyable. I’m also thankful for the opportunities to share in our many special events here with students. Seeing our kids grow over the course of those four years, those are all things that I'll look back on fondly.” 

Daly spent the first 25 years of his career with the Halton board as a high school teacher, department head, vice principal and then founding principal of both St. Francis Xavier and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary Schools in Milton and Oakville, respectively. 

Daly had also held the positions of superintendent of education with the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, followed by his tenure as director of education in Halton.

With a career spanning a wide range of roles and responsibilities under the umbrella of Catholic education, Daly reflected on a unique vocation path over the past 37 years. 

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“ No matter the role, Catholic education is a challenging job. If you come to it with a real belief that what you're doing is beyond the day-to-day requirements of the job, that you are helping form young people in their faith journey, that's one of the things that really sustains you over a long period of time,” he told The Catholic Register. 

Leading St. Michael’s College School, with its history and tradition, Daly’s career is able to end on a high note. For the principal, St. Michael’s is a special place that will remain that way after his departure this summer.

“ I'm from Hamilton, but my knowledge of St. Mike's (beforehand) was really around athletics. It was interesting to see what an outstanding academic and co-curricular program was in place as well. You think of the 100-per-cent university acceptance rate, 85 per cent of our kids get admitted to their first choice university, we're well above provincial average in terms of students getting offers to business and commerce programs as well as engineering and computer science,” he said. 

“All of these strong points, combined with a great alumni culture that continues to grow, are things that are really unique to our school, and I’m happy to have been a part of that.” 

Daly says that while he does not focus heavily on personal legacy, he instead sees his role as hopefully having preserved and enhanced the school’s thriving environment. 

“When September comes around, it'll be the first time I don't go to school since I was five years old,” he said. “It's been a long and fulfilling time here at St. Mike's. The school is in a great spot for somebody to come in, pick the ball up and keep the school moving forward.” 

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As he looks forward to the next chapter, Daly is grateful for the opportunity to more freely reciprocate the support his family has given him throughout his career.

“ My wife continues to teach, and she has supported me in all the different roles I've had over the last number of years, so I can hope to reciprocate that. My kids are both away at university, so maybe I can pop down and see them more too,” he said.