Schools offer unique opportunities to learn
Students join trips abroad, volunteering, STEM program and even circus school
Academic rigour is touted most often as the greatest advantage of private schools. What so many private schools have to offer in addition to academics is a wide array of unique experiential opportunities that enhance classroom learning while providing students with a chance for fun and adventure. Here’s what six leading private schools in the GTA have to offer.
Havergal College
Aday free from classes, for the entire school? That’s the gist of Day 9, a brand-new, schoolwide initiative launched at the all-girls school in North York in September 2017. Day 9 — named such because Havergal operates on an eight-day schedule — gives every girl from junior kindergarten to Grade12 the opportunity to participate in a daylong immersive experience, either at the school or off-campus. The event is designed to deepen in-class learning through curated experiences.
The plan is to offer two Day 9s per semester, for a total of four in each academic year. The activities so far have included mindfulness workshops, flamenco dancing, personal finance classes, embroidery and fabric painting, visits to the Aga Khan Museum and to High Park, virtual reality experiences and circus camp.
Villanova College
The coed private school in King City, Ont., offers students an opportunity to self-select into a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum that begins in Grade 9 and continues into Grade 12. The program enriches core high school science and math courses, integrates technology-based learning and culminates in university-level advanced placement (AP) courses.
In Grade 9, the STEM program introduces students to robotics and programming. Students research how robots are used in everyday life, the design and manufacturing of robots and the future role of robots. They also work with their own robots, learning about their components and writing programs.
Branksome Hall
Every year, Branksome takes its middle and senior school girls off its Toronto campus for Week Without Halls. The annual activity is an overnight experiential learning opportunity that sees each grade (from 7 to11) head to a different location to participate in a different activity, such as a canoe trip in Algonquin Park and a dance workshop and play at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-theLake, Ont. The Grade 8 and 11 students have a cross-grade experience, where the older girls mentor and connect with the younger students in a camp setting.
Week Without Halls always takes place within the first month of school, in an effort to create a bonding experience for both current and new Branksome students.
Bayview Glen
The coed independent school in North York belongs to Round Square, a network of schools in 50 countries that organizes activities designed to enhance personal development. As a Round Square member, Bayview Glen offers its students the opportunity to participate in exchanges, conferences and international service trips.
The trips see anywhere from four to 20 students spend one to two weeks in destinations such as France, India, Denmark, Kenya, Costa Rica and Hungary, doing a mix of volunteer work (such as building schools and repairing infrastructure) and activities such as hiking and exploring. In addition to the trips, Bayview Glen students can participate in interna- tional exchanges and attend Round Square conferences.
Appleby College
The coed Oakville school is one of the first in North America to make global travel a mandated part of its curriculum. A global learning experience, as it’s referred to at the school, has recently become a core requirement of the Appleby College Diploma — the first major change to the school’s diploma requirements in more than 25 years. Students will be required to take their trip between Grades 9 and 12, and can select from a range of opportunities; some are completely immersive cultural experiences, which may include some community-based service, while others are more individualized, such as student exchanges or language development. There are 16 different trips taking place this year alone. The cost of the trips is contained within tuition.
Crescent School
In an effort to help students gain a broader understanding of the world and to develop deeper empathy, Crescent all-boys school in North York mandates an outreach program for its middle and upper school students. Students can select their preferred activity from a list that includes tutoring students from other schools, volunteering at the Good Shepherd Centre for the homeless and disadvantaged, working with students with severe disabilities and visiting at seniors’ residences.
This winter, in a new activity, a group of boys in Grades 7 and 8 are constructing a wooden framework that will support a solar panel array designed to generate heat for a bird bath. The panel will prevent the water from freezing, giving birds from a nearby ravine access to fresh water all winter long, improving their survival rates.