EDUCATION

One of a Kind

Captain R. Wilson Public School
Oakville, Ont. • Public • 770 students • JK–8
Captain R. Wilson surely had no idea a school would be named after him when he was reportedly concealing escaped African-American slaves in his ship’s grain vessels in the 1800s. But this two-year-old school near Lake Ontario not only bears his moniker, but has adopted a nautical theme —hook, line and sinker. The “captain” (principal) greets “sailors” (students) in the morning with “ahoy” (no kidding!) and official signage denotes the “crew’s quarters” (staff room), the “bridge” (main office) and “cargo holds” (storage rooms). Even the central area culminates in a point, like a bow of a boat. While all of this could be construed as hokey, it’s got the whole school on board!

Middle River Consolidated Elementary
Middle River, NS • Public • 23 students • Primary–6
Situated on Cape Breton’s picturesque Cabot Trail, this is truly a little school that could. Middle River Consolidated has been threatened with closure for some 30 years, but in April earned a two-year reprieve. It has several advantages of a larger school — computers (one for every two students!), a webcam, a playground complete with swings, slide and jungle gym, basketball and volleyball courts, and a hot lunch served once a week. But what really sets this school apart is its integral link with the community. The village may have lost its resident clergyman, post office and gas pumps, but the school still draws a crowd of 200 to its Christmas concert, and continues to offer public Internet access following afternoon dismissal.

Northern Lights Public School
Aurora, Ont. • Public • 620 students • JK–8
Opened in 2003, Northern Lights aims to put IT in the hands of kids. The school is completely wireless and the overriding belief is, the more mobile the technology, the more students will use it. Classrooms’ glass walls open onto “discovery pods” where kids can easily retrieve the school’s 50 or 60 laptops, some of them tablet computers. The bonus, says one staff member, is the flexibility, as the technology is woven throughout the curriculum. Northern Lights also has three digital video cameras, half a dozen interactive whiteboards and a digital microscope that displays images on a computer.

Island Public/Natural Science School
Toronto • Public • 185 day-program students, 60 residential science students • JK–6 (day program), 5–6 (residential science program)
Most kids can’t boast they take both a bus and a ferryboat to get to school, but students at this school on the Toronto Islands can. While some live on the islands, many commute from Toronto’s condo-lined waterfront, where green space is at a premium. The Island School shares the facility with a natural science and outdoor education program that accommodates 60 students from other city schools for two-night sleepovers. There is a greenhouse on site, a huge composter and a common room partly constructed from logs.

Originally published in Today's Parent, September 2006