Sometimes private schools get a bad rap for existing in a bubble.
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schools → get → bubble
But these days, that’s often far from reality, as many schools actively build connections with the communities they’re located in.
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they → ’ → communities
These connections help students build character, but they can also serve to strengthen the social fabric of their local community.
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they → help → community
It’s also an opportunity for students to put their classroom skills to the test — out in the real world.
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students → ’ → world
For example, Pickering College — an independent school in Newmarket, Ont., for students in junior kindergarten to Grade 12 — approaches this through a program called SPARC, or Student Projects Advancing Real Change.
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College → approach → Change
As part of this program, students investigate a real-world issue, connect with people and organizations working in that area and create a solution with an authentic purpose beyond the classroom.
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students → investigate → classroom
“It is not an add-on to the curriculum,” said Joshua Armstrong, director of teaching and learning at Pickering College.
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Armstrong → say → College
Rather, he said, it’s an interdisciplinary way of achieving curriculum expectations through meaningful learning in areas that range from environmental stewardship to food insecurity and inclusion.
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that → say → insecurity
A single project might draw on research and communication skills, science or social-science concepts, mathematics, design, the arts and digital technologies.
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project → draw → skills
“SPARC raises the academic stakes because students are not simply completing an assignment for a mark,” said Armstrong.
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Armstrong → raise → mark
“They are using the curriculum to create something thoughtful and useful for a real audience.”
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They → use → audience
Middle school students, for example, partnered with the Newmarket Food Pantry as part of SPARC to explore food insecurity.
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students → partner → insecurity
After researching the issue and visiting the pantry to understand community needs, students developed and tested practical recipes using ingredients typically available there.
“Their recipe book was designed to help pantry users prepare accessible, enjoyable meals, and students also prepared and donated meals to the Newmarket Community Fridge,” said Armstrong.
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Armstrong → research → Fridge
In another example, the Little Forest at Blue & Silver Farm serves as a cross-divisional environmental learning project.
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Forest → serve → project
The forest is a compact, densely planted native woodland, based on the Miyawaki method, designed to restore biodiversity and create a more climate-resilient ecosystem.
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forest → plant → ecosystem
In partnership with Little Forests Kingston and Trees for Life, Grade 11 environmental science students researched native species, tested soil, prepared compost tea from healthy forest soil and planted hundreds of native trees, shrubs and groundcover species.
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students → research → trees
They then taught younger students in Grade 4 and 5 how the planting method works and why it matters.
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it → teach → Grade
In some cases, faculty establish relationships with organizations whose expertise aligns with student learning.
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expertise → establish → learning
But they don’t hand out pre-designed volunteer tasks to students.
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they → hand → students
“They research the issue, meet or communicate with the partner, listen to the needs identified, develop possible responses and seek feedback as they refine their work,” said Armstrong.
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Armstrong → research → work
“That is what turns a community connection into authentic learning.”
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what → turn → learning
At the same time, older students increasingly take the lead in identifying experts, organizations and mentors connected to their own interests.
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students → take → interests
“The goal is not for students to ‘help’ a community from a distance,” said Armstrong.
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Armstrong → help → distance
“It is for them to learn with community partners, recognize the expertise already present in the community and contribute thoughtfully in response to a real need.”
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them → learn → need
Trafalgar Castle School, an independent school in Whitby, Ont., for girls in Grade 4 to 12, regularly opens its doors to host community gatherings for local residents, such as Holiday High Tea.
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School → open → Tea
And, through programs like Beyond the Castle, students engage in hands-on civic engagement and community projects beyond the castle walls.
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students → engage → walls
For example, Grade 9 students teamed up with Ontario Tech University and regional Probus clubs — community organizations for retired and semi-retired individuals — to help bridge the digital divide between generations.
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students → team → generations
Students guide seniors in activities such as troubleshooting their smartphone or spotting online scams.
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Students → guide → scams
“It’s not other kids.
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It → ’ → ?
It’s not their coaches.
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It → ’ → ?
It’s not their teachers.
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It → ’ → ?
It is people very much in our community that they’ve now formed these bonds and these partnerships with,” said Trafalgar head of school Melissa Knight-Johnson.
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Johnson → form → school
Trafalgar’s all-girls robotics team is the first high school team from Ontario to compete at the MATE ROV World Championships, which was held at Memorial University of Newfoundland in June, where they designed and built a remote-operated underwater vehicle.
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they → compete → vehicle
While that’s “super-cool in and of itself,” said Knight-Johnson, students have taken that a step further by teaching robotics and promoting Canadian sustainable development goals on gender equality, climate action and life below water with local elementary schools.
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students → ’ → schools
All students in Ontario are required, as part of the curriculum, to do some sort of community outreach.
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students → require → outreach
But Knight-Johnson said the school’s approach is finding opportunities that students want to be part of — not because they have to do it to graduate.
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they → say → it
“When they enjoy it and they want to engage with that external community,” she said, “then they’re going to continue doing it.”
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they → enjoy → it
The Aporia
