Fieldstone
Day School
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Administrative Note: The following summary of Fieldstone Day School was provided by one of our regular members, KathyO on our message board. You may contact her for further information, or visit Fieldstones' excellent web site.
My own daughter JO (age 6) is in Grade One at Fieldstone Day School, and we are very happy with how they adapt to her and the other gifted kids. It's a non-denominational coed school for K-12. It's not for gifted kids only, but it IS a great environment for them, particularly in the primary years. A basic tenet of their philosophy is that kids can accomplish a lot more than is generally expected of them, if given encouragement and opportunity. It follows rather naturally that gifted kids are valued, and encouraged to achieve what they can. A major strength of the program is the flexibility they have shown in making adjustments to suit individual kids' needs.
I visited a lot of schools before selecting Fieldstone. Some of them had terrific programs; some had glorious facilities; but what stood out to me at Fieldstone was the attitude of everyone I talked to – administrators, teachers, and even students. What I saw there was that the point of the school was to nurture the joy of learning. Not to “get into the best university” or “build a network of alumni connections” but to learn nifty stuff and have fun exploring facts and ideas. I’m not worried about JO getting into whatever university she chooses, as long as she still thinks learning is fun by the time she’s ready. Fieldstone teachers actually have a great time teaching nifty things to engaged and interested students. What more could I ask? In the end we applied only to Fieldstone.
Instead of the Ontario curriculum, they use a Global Knowledge curriculum that is more advanced and a lot more interesting. JO’s kindergarten class last year covered (off the top of my head) Ancient Egypt, magnets, Vikings, Romeo and Juliet (yes, Shakespeare for Kindergarteners!), and the continents. Right now in Grade One they are doing a research project on whales (including internet research), and exploring World Religions. JO just got the manual for the Spelling Bee and is excited about Spelling Bee club. She's also looking forward to participating in the Public Speaking contest. She learned about it tonight and within 90 seconds had come up with three possible topics. The pillar for the month (each month they focus on a particular value, like honesty, courage, integrity...). Remembering people who have died in wars. Or loovvvvve, because, "lots of people don't know what love really means. We learned about love from Walter the Farting Dog". I'm not sure what she'll eventually decide on, but I'm sure it will be interesting!
The school is new and still growing, so there will be openings for next year in many grades, not just the standard "intake years". Six years ago the school had six students; now it has about 240. Two years ago they moved to their present location from a much smaller space. They hope eventually have two classes for each grade (max 20/class). Currently they have two grade 5s, 7s, and 8s, and one each for the rest.
Fieldstone strongly encourages visits to the school, not just for parents but for kids too. Your daughter could come and try out the class for a visit. Call Ms. Le Leung, director of admissions (416) 487-7381 to arrange a tour of the school. There are occasional open houses (next one is February, I think), but you'll have specific questions that will probably be better answered in a private tour, and they are available on request.
I also enjoy the fact that all the primary teachers and admin people know JO, and will call out to her by name from across the playground or in the cafeteria. It’s a very friendly school, and with clubs, house events, and various other activities there is a lot of interaction across grades.
So, what about acceleration? Well, for starters, in math and such they tend to be about a year ahead of the public system. But in addition, they schedule all primary math classes at the same time of day, and students can move up (or down) to the level that suits their needs. They sometimes do the same for English, although that is trickier since it has so many subcomponents (reading, writing, spelling, etc). A few kids from each grade go up to the next class for Math.
Fieldstone is also willing to permit grade skips if all agree its right for a particular child. I personally am not crazy about grade skips. Partway through the year the teachers talked to us about whether we’d like to just put her in grade 1 full time (she was there for Math and English). We declined, on the basis of her social development being better in tune with her agemates, but others have accepted and grade skips are not something you have to fight for at Fieldstone if circumstances indicate they are warranted. However, with subject acceleration and genuine in-class enrichment, they may not be as needed. JO gets plenty of enriching activities within the classroom. Her teacher is amazingly skillful at adapting the material to give JO an extra challenge. For things like Science and Social Studies, she gives JO some extra topics (related to what the class is working on) to think about or research. Often she'll report back her findings to the class (she loves to be the centre of attention). During phonics, she works on interesting book reports about the novels she's reading, and she and another advanced classmate are learning to touch type. JO sometimes comes up with extra extensions that she wants to do, and the teacher is very supportive about not just allowing her to do this, but providing whatever she needs (time to work on it, materials) and giving her the opportunity to talk about it (either with the class or the teacher, as appropriate). Instead of phonics homework JO uses the Wordly Wise vocabulary workbook, which is a lot of fun. The teacher than works those words into her regularly lessons, and she and JO wink at each other as conspirators.
The teachers I’ve talked to all find it fun and interesting to come up with these extra enrichments, and don’t treat it as an extra annoying burden but an asset to the class. The nature of the enrichment depends on what the particular child enjoys.
Oh, and there is a Gifted pullout program. This year it was just once a week, doing the Destination Imagination program with the Grade 3 teacher (in a multi grade group). JO loved it! They have plans to expand this program, though I'm not sure exactly what will happen. They are planning to hire a full-time gifted teacher, who will do additional activities. Fieldstone reached out to ABC, and invited them to hold their most recent meeting there as well. They are naturally gifted-friendly, but they are also aware of the gifted community.
I take it for granted, but they also have the “extras” – art, music, gym and French, taught by specialists. There are after-school clubs, which change three times a year. The next session's offerings include Spelling Bee, chess, Technology workshops, woodworking, Dinosaur Club, and Wee Whizzards.
Whew! Ok, that got long, and I need to get back to packing. But, I do encourage you to check out Fieldstone and see for yourself what it’s like. And if you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me either on the board or by email. I just can’t say enough good things about this school!