The following hiatory was written in 1966 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Birch Cliff Public School.

Forward

There is a huge, leather-bound book in the safe at Birch Cliff School, of the type known commonly fifty years ago as a Journal. Inside, the heavy covers are lined with brightly-patterned paper and the wavy design is stamped on the edges of its 501 pages. There is an inscription on the front page, and it reads:

Birch Cliff, December 31, 1917

This book was presented to School Section number fifteen (15) Township of Scarborough, at the annual meeting of ratepayers, by Henry S. Redman, Township Solicitor. In making the presentation Mr. Redman referred to the fact that but comparatively little record of the intimate life of the “pioneer days” in the Township had been preserved and it seemed unfortunate that the available histories furnish scarcely any account of the “human side” – and they must have been very human – of our predecessors. No country, locality, nor even family can live up to its best without the possession of some creditable historical record, and it is this that makes it seem an advisable thing to institute a “School History,” of which this book it is hoped may be the first volume, so that matters of interest in connection with the school and its associations may be recorded from time to time, sometimes by the teachers, sometimes by the scholars, and perhaps occasionally by Trustees, Inspectors or visitors. Entries need not be confined to names and records but should include details and impressions of events which are outstanding and of general interest to the scholars and teachers and the neighbourhood.

– H. E. Redman

The Early Years

Situated on the north-west corner of Birch Cliff Avenue and Kingston Road, early pictures of Birch Cliff School present a high, square building with a stately front entrance, surrounded by an iron fence with brick posts on either side of a front walk. Behind the school, beyond today’s parking lot, was a yard for Township work trucks, the offices of the Township being in the next block. To the west of the school was an apple orchard, “Motley’s Field.” The children had no formal schoolyard, but had their games of hop-scotch and “catch” on the cinder pavement immediately surrounding the building.

One day Morley’s Field would be used by the pupils for exhibition entry gardens. Later still it became the schoolyard, containing volleyball and basketball courts, baseball diamonds and soccer field. The Journal tells us: “September, 1916: On the fifth day of September, 1916, the new school at Birch Cliff was opened, and pupils and teacher met for the first time in the building of which we are all so justly proud.

“The faces of the pupils expressed evident pleasure at being in their own school at last; there were also many searching, questioning glances at their new teacher, and above all a very apparent desire to acquit themselves worthily in their new school. The teacher, on her part, met these children with fear and trembling, yet with high hopes and aspirations that she might be able to influence these young lives entrusted to her care.”

The district named Birch Cliff, in 1916, was enclosed within the area east of Victoria Park Avenue to Birchmount Road, and south of the tracks to the lake. Still known as the Birch Cliff district of Scarborough today, it was so named by an early settler who called his home, “Birch Cliff,” in honour of the many trees that stood majestically along the edges of the bluffs. When the first post office was opened in Arthur Mitchell’s store at Kingston Road and Birchmount in 1907, it too was named “Birch Cliff.” Although many of these trees still stand, other stately specimens have been lost in the constant transformation of the bluffs due to erosion. In 1916 sandsuckers operated off the bluffs close to the limit set by law, hastening the process of erosion, and the face of the cliff was changing steadily at the frightening rate of 1 1/2 feet per year.

A first-day pupil at Birch Cliff Public School recalls that the area was sparsely settled in September, 1916. West of where he lived, a golf course extended on either side of Kingston Road, and as he trudged towards Warden Avenue, his bookstrap flapping against his knickers, he passed dense bush and few houses. Back in 1911 the irate ratepayers of Birch Cliff had objected to the widening of Kingston Road from 12 to 24 feet, protesting that it would become a “regular speedway,” but little traffic sped by this September morning. Other than an occasional horse and wagon, only the green radial car stirred up a dust. It flashed past, loaded with commuters to Toronto, having waited in the switching barn across from St. Nicholas Church for the upcoming car on its way to West Hill. The English-Irish-Scottish homeowners in Birch Cliff in 1916 were mostly artisans and wage-earners, and a great number commuted daily to Toronto.

As the boy waved to the conductor he remembered a trip he took on the radial last winter. When he put his nickel in the fare box with numbed fingers he felt the cosy warmth inside, provided by electricity under the seats. He changed to the double cars at Queen, however, and nearly scorched his golf socks trying to keep warm against the Bakerheater. There was an aura of adventure travelling by radial, and downright danger too! Back in March a car had killed the horse and damaged the wagon belonging to Mr. Mitchell, the postmaster; and in May a motor-bike caught in the tracks was thrown over the Golf Course fence. On the King’s birthday, however, car after car went by loaded with picnickers bound for the lovely sites between Birch Cliff and Scarborough Heights.

The grocery-store near Warden had just opened, the boy was so early that morning – the owner sweeping the front. Still, ahead he could see the clutches of children gathering as they headed toward the new school, and he ran to catch up with a group who had gone to Oakridge School with him, the previous year. As they passed the ruins of St. Nicholas Church, burned in January, the noted with professional interest the progress being made on the new $18,000 structure. Most of the boys and girls in the neighbourhood went to Sunday School at “St. Nick’s” and were now attending in a nearby private home.

The boys had also watched with eager interest the building of the new school, during the summer. They had climbed over piles of yellow lumber, talked with the workmen, and just yesterday some of the more daring had hoisted each other up to peer through the windows at the shiny new desks and vast, empty blackboards. Because of the war, shortages and slowups had prevented the school’s completion. Only one room was finished of the “handsome new building” projected in an architect’s drawing in a July newspaper. The caption stated that it was “part of a scheme for a future school of 10 to 12 rooms, and is practically fireproof, the corridor being of concrete with brick dad of fireproof stairs.” On the first day, only the senior pupils, 45 in all, were able to attend, but there would be four rooms by the following September.

On the steps of the new school, Mrs. Reece watched her new pupils advance toward her. She held the school bell by its clapper, and switching it from one hand to another, nervously smoothed her long black serge skirt and flicked imagined dust from her starched white blouse. Arriving in Canada only the year before, this was her first principalship. And for the time being she was the only teacher in the school. As she wrote later, she was “filled with fear and trembling” as she rang the bell and ushered her 45 charges into Birch Cliff School, that September 5, 1916.

The early days of Birch Cliff School were most exciting, a woman who was a student in 1916 told us. As she leafed through an old album she recalled that the second room of the school was finished in October.

“That was the second teacher, Miss Bunner,” she pointed to a class picture. “And the third room was completed right after the new year, when Miss Wilson joined the staff. The children’s faces looking out from the brownish photograph could be those of the children today – one is having her pigtail pulled (by a smug-expressioned girl behind her). One or two of the pupils have their eyes closed, several are squinting against the bright sunlight, and one girl is blurred in the act of scratching her head. It was difficult to stand absolutely quiet for a fifteen-second time exposure. The date of the photograph was June 1918, and the girls are wearing cool, white or checked gingham dresses, long white stockings and large floppy hair ribbons that almost obscure the faces or those behind them. The boys, however, appear to have made no concession toward a bright, hot day in June, and sport turtle-neck sweaters, belted jackets, knee length pants and long black stockings. The teachers stand stiffly on either side of the little group and look slightly dishevelled. Any teacher who has tried to arrange, seat, threaten and subdue 53 children for a class picture would admit this is an understandable strain.

This same pupil recalled vividly the first Birch Cliff trip to the Agincourt School Fair. The children met at the school at seven, each juggling his or her fair exhibit in one hand and a lunch in the other. There was much excitement as they boarded the radial for East Toronto, filling first one car, then the next, to capacity. She remembered how she and some other of the older girls had fits of giggling, watching one small boy, sitting across from them, try to manage his lunchbox and a sheaf of corn that completely hid his face. At East York (Danforth Station) they boarded the train for Agincourt, where they won 24 prizes in all.

The next year, at Newmarket, the school won first prize for the county. From that day forward, the girl laughingly remembered, there appeared to be a lessening of interest among the other schools, as Birch Cliff consistently won “first” at county fairs. Eventually Birch Cliff School had fairs of its own.

In June 1917, the only upper fourth (grade 8) pupil, Alex McCartney, passed his “entrance” examination to high school with honours, and the first year of Birch Cliff School closed successfully and happily.
Another former student remembers with affection the first Christmas concert in 1917. Although some livingrooms by now were graced by a pump organ, few could boast a piano, and the tiny half-finished Birch Cliff School had no accompanying instrument for the pupil-performers. Undaunted, the teachers organized a kazoo band, and the show went on as scheduled. Apparently it was a tremendous success. With the aid of a tuning fork, Mrs. Reece taught her choir Christmas carols in three and four-part harmony. The senior room had festive drawings on the blackboard, the flags of the allies forming a border across the top. A creditable curtain was rigged with two uprights and a sheet, and the overflowing audience of parents and friends praised each selection with thunderous applause. So fine was their reception, they say, that the school was asked to present the concert again, after New Years Day. An interesting sidelight is that before the second concert the ratepayers of Birch Cliff presented the school with a beautiful new piano – not intended, we trust, as a reflection on the excellence of the original kazoo band!

In October 1918, the school closed for a time to check the spread of the terrible influenza. This was not just a winter “flu” as we know it today, but a full-fledged epidemic. Birch Cliff School, fortunately, did not lose a pupil or parent through the disease.

Close on the heels of the tragic flu epidemic came the wonderful news of the Armistice – November 11, 1918 – the end of the “Great War.” After four years many pupils could not remember peacetime, and hardly knew what to expect from the “cessation of hostilities.” They knew the suffering, certainly, caused by the absence of a brother or father to the front lines, and the principal recorded that they “were greatly moved by the emotion of the day.”

The Middle Years.

The first four-room addition (Rooms 5, 6, 11 and 12) was made to Birch Cliff School in 1919. Before this, increased attendance had made it necessary to rent the Kalmar Club (now a nursery school at Eastwood and Freeman) for extra accommodation. By 1921 classes were staggered to handle the pupil-load and a second four-room addition ( Rooms I, 2, 7 and 8) was built in 1922.

The village of Birch Cliff changed slowly during the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. As in Scarborough generally, the greatest changes came in the ’50s. Stores changed hands, a few more houses were built yearly, and in 1926 the radial car gave way to a streetcar line. In 1928 the enrollment had grown from 53 to 590 and four portable classrooms were set up in Birch Cliff schoolyard. Supposedly a temporary measure, these portables stood for twenty-two years when an eight-room addition was made to the school.

Although Mrs. Reece referred to it modestly as a “plain, simple, country school,” pupils of the ’20s remember many “extras” in the curriculum — some that astonished their parents! To a father who traveled six miles by streetcar to earn wages in a downtown contracting firm, or work in Eaton’s, art, lettering and clay modeling seemed unnecessary frills. Many a boy hesitated to tell his father that he also studied bread-baking. Everyone agreed on the merit of school gardens and enthusiastically attended the many school fairs, carnivals and exhibitions held during the ’20s. By this time the Home & School had been established and the women joined forces to help the school effort in bake sales and teas. Money was raised for worthy causes and as early as 1916 a total of $76.43 was sent to the Consumptive Home; the Belgian children; Red Cross and the Royal Navy Home.

On February 12, 1920 a meeting was held at the school to form a Home and School Association and Mrs. Reece was elected president. A strong supporter of the need for co-operation between parents and teachers, Mrs. Reece had instituted “Mothers’ Afternoons” as early as November 1917. Mrs. Courtice, a trustee on the Toronto Board of Education, and a pioneer in the Home and School movement, addressed the meeting. Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. Redman and Mrs. Graham were elected vice-presidents; Miss Redman, Secretary and Mrs. Bradbury, Treasurer. The membership was 25 cents: (by 1964 it had risen to 50 cents), committees were formed and a constitution drawn up.

Through the years that followed, the Club flourished and contributed greatly to the life of the community. During the Second World War, with hundreds of ex-students in the services, many projects were initiated and supported by the hard-working members. Strictly a women’s group to begin with, a surprising number of fathers take an enthusiastic part, today, in organizing the lively monthly programmes. Mr. George Fernly was elected president in 1959 and all three subsequent presidents have been men. Residents of Birch Cliff enjoy such yearly events as Oratorical Night, Fathers’ Night, Commencement Night, and take a keen interest in the slate of guest speakers.
This Association, one of the earliest formed, is noted throughout Metro for its library – one of the largest school libraries largely supported and wholly staffed by Home & School members. In 1921 the Club raised $320 and established a public lending library in the school, for adults only and in 1925 children’s books were added. This library vacated the school in 1944 and since then, the Home and School has provided the excellent collection in the basement for the pupils’ use. By means of concerts, prizes from county fairs and bake sales, enough money was collected over two years to buy a moving-picture machine – an unusual school possession in 1920. Pupils recalI the air of expectancy every other week when films were shown. Only a few had been allowed the rare treat of seeing the “flickers” in the Veteran’s Hall across the street, and the films Mrs. Reece secured on loan from the government were of excellent quality, and – Mrs. Reece made certain – highly educational!

In 1921 the school held its own exhibition, and according to an old programme, the categories of competition ranged from “Photography” down to “Darn in Heel of Stocking.” There were many classes of school and home garden produce and the wide variety of subjects assured everyone a chance to take part. Marching and flag drills outside closed the festivities and a girl who was there remembers that the pupils were proud to see their Inspector, Mr. Jordan, and Scarborough’s Reeve Stewart among those present.
In June, 1922, the cornerstone of the new Scarborough High School was laid and the entrance pupils that year, 9 in all, attended classes in the basement of Birch Cliff United Church until November 11th when the school was finished. Later re-named R. H. King Collegiate in honour of its first principal, the high school had a staff of four teachers. Children from Birch Cliff graduated to R. H. King until the fall of 1964 when Birchmount Park Collegiate was built in Russell’s Field.

One June day in 1923, the 497 pupils of Birch Cliff School assembled on the front lawn for a group picture. The photograph hangs in the front hall of the school and in the background is a glimpse of the lake, a corner of Taylor’s Drug Store and the radial tracks on the opposite side of Kingston Road.

At the September, 1925, meeting of ratepayers it was reported that Scarborough now had a population of over 10,000 and that 27 births, 10 deaths and four marriages had been recorded in the Township in the last month. It was at this meeting that a group suggested that the area of Birch Cliff south of Kingston Road be incorporated as a new village, “Scarboro-on-the Lake.” This was strongly countered by another group who favoured amalgamation of all outlying suburban areas with Toronto. This proposal was later rejected by the City Council on the grounds that these suburban areas (Victoria Park, Mimico, Belfontaine, Birch Cliff) were but sparsely settled and widely separated. “A vision of ‘Metropolitan Toronto’ would have to wait until a much later day,” the mayor said in a newspaper account.

When they read the newspaper the children of Birch Cliff skipped “News of our Suburban Areas” in favour of the funny papers - Dumb Dora and Barney Google. While the grownups discussed the reason for higher taxes (new schools), the children concentrated on the import- ant matter of getting ready for another school fair.

Late in the ’20s Morley’s Field was turned over to the pupils for gardens. The boys’ gardens were separated from those of the girls’, although the boys were expected to help the girls with heavy digging, and the girls reciprocated at weeding time. Tended carefully, even in the summer months, the harvest from these gardens was used for free lunches for those who wished to stay at noon. The pupils had the excellent experience of not only growing the produce, but also preparing and serving it.

Lean years though they were, the pupils of the ’20s and early ’30s stored up many happy memories untouched, as such memories are, by mere economic conditions. A great number of the pupils of this period still live in Birch Cliff. Many a boy who pushed a hand-mower over lawns on Harding for 5 cents a house, navigates a power-mower on his own grass on Hollis or Queensbury, today.

One such pupil tells how the boys looked forward to meeting their newest male teacher, in 1935 – a man by the name of Lorne Wideman. He boarded in the home of the Prudhommes on Avalon Road, along with several other teachers. A tall, husky, young man, he was put in charge of the biggest boys in the school – 45 grade 8 students. A few years later he had a class of 52 boys, in Room 7. Mrs. Isabel Moore taught the grade 8 girls in those years.

That fall there was a fire in A. E. Mitchell’s store and post office at Birchmount and Kingston Road, causing damage amounting to $7,000. Several people narrowly escaped. Rudy Vallee headlined the Toronto Exhibition, with Mary Pickford as special guest. Parents were beginning to chafe at the expense of schoolbooks for high school students, for although the newspapers reported the depression was on its way out, it cost between $3.50 and $4.00 to equip a grade 9 student with texts. The same former student recalls that Pontiac came out with a car with a silver streak; the headlines in the papers were about Addis Ababa and Mussolini; there were smaller items inside about a man called Hitler in Germany, and five sets of twins enrolled in Birch Cliff School.

Mr. Wideman instituted hockey as a school sport, the student relates today, and when they could find a puck and enough sticks the boys played rousing games on the back rink. Mr. Wideman drove a 1932 Chevrolet, affectionately named “Horace,” which he used to convey the boys to other schools for games. Organized school sports or sports equipment were far in the future and rustling up enough gear for a team was always a problem. A toaster, a luxury item in 1935, was raffled, the boy told us, and enough was raised to buy the team sweaters. He spoke too of the winter carnival that year, with prizes for costumes, a bonfire and cocoa afterward. Spring brought baseball and again “Horace” was used as team transportation for inter-school games.

It is heartening to discover that the teenager of 1935 engaged in the same type of deviltry as does his counterpart of 1966. One such hi-jink was ringing the bell of St. Nicholas Church on the way back to school at noon. Mrs. Reece was waiting for them inside the bell-tower one day at noon, and a month of detentions “outside the principal’s office” broke the habit.

Two years after Mr. Wideman joined the staff another male teacher was engaged, Mr. W. J. Taylor. He was a very scholarly young man, a wide reader and a sound disciplinarian. Mr. Taylor taught Manual Training to the boys of grades 5, 6. 7 and 8 before there was a proper room or equipment for such a subject. When Mrs. Reece left in June, 1941, to become a member of the Board of Education, Mr. Taylor was made principal. Mr. Wideman was given the principalship in 1946 when Mr. Taylor became a Supervising Principal.

The Recent Years

During the ’40s and ’50s the atmosphere of Birch Cliff changed from that of a village to an urban area. Homes were built from Victoria Park to Warden, completely erasing farm fields and bush, and filling the northern section of the golf course. Thompson’s Field was subdivided into home sites; a shopping plaza appeared on the north and apartments on the south side of Kingston Road at Warden. Finally an apartment development was built in the last open field, a favourite “sand-lot,” the Garton property.

Streetcars gave way to buses in 1954 and the development of the Russell farmland at Birchmount and Kingston Road was begun. Today it is a recreational centre containing a skating arena, swimming pool and stadium, bounded on the north by lmmaculate Heart of Mary Church and School and Birchmount Park Collegiate. At the southern end is the attractively modern Public Utilities building. A resident remembers when in 1935 he was offered this entire property, including the homestead, for $2,500.
Another addition to our school, eight classrooms, was completed in 1951. According to the programme of the official opening, March 15, Reeve Oliver Crockford, several Board members and former Principal, W. J. Taylor took part. The gymnasium was built in 1953 and the last section (Rooms 21-25) was added in 1955.

Through all these external changes, it is impressive to the outside observer that the purposes and routines of Birch Cliff School have varied little. lt has seen 50 years, two world wars and a depression, but has had only three principals – Mrs. E. E. Reece, the founding principal, Mr. W. J. Taylor, now Business and Finance Supervisor of the Scarborough Board of Education, and our present principal of 20 years standing, Mr. L. M. Wideman. While Birch Cliff altered its appearance and became part of Metro Toronto, it is curious to note the long-tenure of some of the school’s teaching staff. For instance, Miss Lillian Sloan started in Birch Cliff School in 1929 and stayed for 32 years. This excellent teacher taught Kindergarten for the main part of her service in the school. Retired now, Miss Sloan has an uncanny faculty for recalling pupils’ names, misdemeanours and better attributes when she makes a visit from time to time.

From a principal’s standpoint, Mr. Wideman extols the fine qualities of his teaching staff, past and present. Mrs. Margaret McCall was a primary teacher from 1934 to 1958 who successfully instituted new ideas in the reading programme. Music has always played a great part in the Birch Cliff curriculum. A Scottish piper has for many years preceded the Grade 8 graduates down the aisle to their commencement exercises. Children today proceed to their classrooms at nine accompanied by music over the public address system. In earlier years a windup gramophone played Sousa marches for their assembly, and the boys whistled as well to help carry the tune throughout the building. Mrs. S. V. I. Marison has trained outstanding Orff bands; a choir directed by Miss Lena Trelour won a Kiwanis first in the ’40s. Many superior choirs of the 1930-50 era were conducted by Miss Cecilia Caldwell, and in the ’50s by Mr. David Livingstone.

Mr. Richard Ludwig, of Scarborough Public School’s Art Department, did exceptional teaching in art while on the staff, as did Mrs. Edith Oakes. Miss Mabel Morrow, now in the Guidance Department, made English grammar come alive for the senior pupils in the 13 years she taught at Birch Cliff School. A pioneer in the acceleration experiment, Mrs. Vera Moffatt saw a great percentage of her pupils finish grade 8 a year early. Mrs. Ruth McLachlin, Miss Gladys Burrill, Miss Lillian Hainstock and Miss Anna Mackenzie retired after many years of superior service.

There are times when the most important person in the school is the caretaker. Birch Cliff School has seen its share of mishaps – flapping blinds, stubborn wall maps, empty ink wells, upset stomachs, and flickering lights and a procession of caretakers has run to the rescue. Pupils have recalled such names as Mr. Rush, Mr. Mark, Mr. Pascoe, Mr. Spring, Mr. Burke and Mr. Richards.

In the early years, Mr. G. Rush, the caretaker, took the children across Kingston Road in front of the school. Later, Crossing Guards were instituted and Mr. Stapleton, Mr. H. McGarvey, and now Mrs. M Hill have given devoted service. The school had a remarkable five-year accident-free period in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

A favourite of all the pupils is the school secretary – a fairly new institution. The original Birch Cliff secretary, still in office after 11 years, is Mrs. Sadie Kane, an expert administrator, registrar, and first aid consultant. Noted for her quick sense or humour, Mrs. Kane has been well-beloved by a generation of pupils, and teachers have found her a ready ear and wise adviser.

Listening to former pupils of Birch Cliff School reminisce, one is impressed with the fact that the village atmosphere prevails, even today. Many residents have lived south of the Danforth between Victoria Park and Birchmount all their lives. They speak of swimming at the “pits” or down on lakeside beach as familiarly as the children today mention Lion’s Pool; Birch Cliff students beg chestnut leaves from the resident across the street, as their fathers did, for leaf projects. Mitchell’s Grocery at Birchmount and Kingston Road has long since been replaced by a service station, yet grocery-stores with scribblers for account books and free delivery are still in evidence throughout Birch Cliff. A factory was built on the foundations of the carbarn, across from St. Nicholas Church and, after a fire, the Birch Cliff Theatre. Many an older resident, seeing the children troop over the crosswalk to the Saturday matinee, remembers well the “flickers” he saw, sitting stiff-backed on a wooden chair in the Legion Hall, and the clatter of the moving picture machine at the back of the room.

September 6, 1966, 50 years later, 874 children made their way to Birch Cliff School – some for their first September, some for their last – but neither the first nor the last for our school. Boys in T-shirts jostled their way across the boys’ playground; little clutches of girls in summer dresses walked alongside the old iron fence to the girls’ playground. The electric bell inside the building rang over the entrances, and the children lined up in 23 lines.

School had started again, for its second half-century.

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Mission Statement

Toronto District School Board

Our Mission is to enable all students to reach high levels of achievement and to acquire the knowledge, skills and values they need to become responsible members of a democratic society.

we value:

• each and every student
• a strong public education system
• a partnership of students, schools, family, and community
• the uniqueness and diversity of our students and our community
• the commitment and skills of our staff
• equity, innovation, accountability, and accessibility
• learning environments that are safe, nurturing, positive and respectful

Our Code of Behaviour has been established by a committee consisting of teachers, students and parents in order to help students at Birch Cliff develop responsible behaviour, self-discipline and respect for others.

We believe this develops best when young people see themselves exerting considerable control over their own behaviour and accepting responsibility for their own actions. Scope is provided for students to make decisions. Problem solving and conflict resolution strategies are taught and encouraged. Logical consequences are recommended for inappropriate behaviour.

Through the implementation of this Code, we believe an optimum learning experience will be available for each student at Birch Cliff and that our students will develop the social skills needed for a full and rewarding life.

This Code of Behaviour is rooted in the rights and responsibilities of a democratic society.

It promotes:

The success of students in achieving the knowledge and skills that underlie these values depends upon the environment of three partners: school staff, parents/guardians and the students themselves, each partner with clearly articulated rights and responsibilities. The school Code of Behaviour clearly outlines both these rights and responsibilities.

A pupil shall:

1. be diligent in attempting to master such studies as are part of the program in which the pupil is enrolled;
2. exercise self-discipline;
3. accept such discipline as would be exercised by a kind, firm and judicious parent;
4. attend classes punctually and regularly;
5. be courteous to fellow pupils and obedient and courteous to teachers;
6. be clean in person and habits;
7. take such tests and examinations as are required by or under the Act, or as may be directed by the Minister; and;
8. show respect for school property.

• Every student has a right to a safe learning environment.
• Every student has a right to a proper learning environment e.g. quiet, orderly, structured.
• Every student has a profound right to be treated with respect and dignity consistent with true humanistic values.
• Every student has an equitable right to an excellent education.
• Every student has the same rights under the law as he/she has in the society, and this with due regard to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• Every student has the right to follow the religious practice of his or her conscience, so long as the rights of others are not impeded.
• Every student has the right to achieve all benefits attributed to the common good of the society as a whole.

• Every staff member has a right to a secure, happy and orderly teaching environment.
• Every staff member has a right to respect and courtesy at all times.
• Every staff member has the right to the authority and to the exercise of that authority as prescribed under the Acts and Regulations governing the Teaching Profession.
• Every teacher has the right to fully participate in the achievement of the common good as defined by the society.
• Staff members must co-operate with the school administration in complying with school rules and the completion of assigned duties.

• Every student must worktowards the establishment of a safe learning environment for all.
• No student has the right to interfere with or otherwise inhibit the right of any students to the quiet enjoyment and optimum use of an ideal learning situation.
• Every student must respect the dignity and individualism of every other student.
• Students must participate fully in the learning opportunities provided.
• Every student must obey all of the laws of Canada and Ontario and ensure that no student is deprived of any rights under those laws.
• No student may interfere with another person’s right to free religious expression.
• Every student is required to respect every other person’s right to reap the benefits of the common good as accepted by society as a whole.

• Each staff must be prepared for all teaching and supervision assignments and for building and maintaining a proper teaching environment.
• Each person must show due respect for the dignity of others.
• Every staff member must work to maintain the safety of the school.
• All staff must work toward the realization of the common good as accepted by the society.

Parents have the right to know that their children are in a safe school environment and that the conditions for learning are optimum.

• Parents can expect full commuication from the school with respect to progress and behaviour of their children.
• Parents can expect that help will be forthcoming should remediation become a necessity.
• Parents can expect staff to be available for consultation upon appointment.

In creating an effective partnership between home and school parents are required to:

• Co-operate with the school in terms of acting as a partner in the management of their children.
• Provide all information that is required for the welfare of the child.
• Be prepared to come into the school when requested to meet with members of staff.
• Provide for the child according to the law and the societal norms.

Toronto schools are committed to a safe and orderly environment in which staff and students can learn and work. Therefore the following behaviours will not be tolerated:

1. Any form of violence against another person.
2. Possession of weapons either prohibited or non-prohibited.
3. Any act of disrespect or discourtesy directed deliberately towards another person.
4. The wearing of improper clothing which violates the dress code of the school.
5. Failure to co-operate with a member of the staff when requested to do so.
6. Failure to comply with or ignorance of the intent of the school behaviour code.
7. Physical, sexual or racial harassment of any person.
8. Failure to comply with the school policies of attendance, promptness, homework, etc.
9. Profanity or verbal abuse directed toward another person.
10. Possession or use of electronic devices.
11. Vandalism or destruction of property.
12. Smoking on school property.
13. Tampering with fire alarms or other safety equipment.
14. Any activity endangering the physical or mental well-being of other persons.
15. Threatening another person.
16. Theft, robbery, gambling, and extortion.
17. Failure to comply with the intent of the Safe School Policy.

Consequences and/or interventions applied by the school Principal/Vice Principal or Staff will take into account the seriousness of the infraction, frequency of infractions, age of pupil, and effect of previous discipline. In some cases, the consequence is clearly stated in policy, e.g. the Safe Schools Policy.

One or more of the following interventions may be applied when students breach the Code of Behaviour:

• interview by appropriate school personnel
• parent/guardian involvement
• removal of privileges
• detention
• temporary withdrawal from class or school
• suspension from school
• restitution for damages to property, to the Board or to an individual
• behavioural contracts
• counselling
• involvement of police
• recommendation for expulsion by the Board

• no snowball throwing
• walk your bicycle on the playground
• no fighting
• stay on the playground at recess
• stay away from the parkng lots
• watch out for younger students
• stay in the playground once you have arrived at school
• no tree climbing
• avoid rough play/no physical contact
• keep skateboards, roller blades and hockey equipment at home along with personal listening devices, bats, golf balls

Be Considerate

• play ball in appropriate places
• avoid the Kindergarten areas at recess and after 1:00 p.m.
• on muddy days, pylons remind us to stay on the pavement

Play Fair

• the jungle gym is for students up to Grade 3 (near parking lot)
• the hills in snowy weather are out of bounds
• large play equipment is for Grades 4 and up in a.m. recess and primary grades in p.m. recess
• use 3 point climbing (2 hands, foot, 2 feet, hand)

Entry from the Playground

Stop playing when the bell rings
Move directly to the appropriate doors and line up
Walk carefully in the halls

Plan to arrive at school just before entry time 8:45/1:15 especially on rainy days
Use your assigned door
The Front Door is for Staff and guests (It is unsafe for students to use these doors because they lead directly to the service parking lot).
The Kindergarten Doors are for Kindergarten children only
Wait at your outside doors for a teacher to meet you if you are participating in extra-curricular activities.

Upon dismissal, leave the school immediately by your proper door. Upon dismissal at recess, use the washroom if necessary.
If you have a problem at recess, please approach the teacher on duty.
Parents picking up students after classes are requested to do so at the appropriate doors. Please be considerate in your use of the parking lot and obey traffic rules.
When picking up children at times other than regular dismissal times, please check in at the office.

Proceed as directly and quietly as possible to avoid disturbing anyone. If spoken to by a staff member, stop, listen and respond politely.

Proceed to the lunch room when dismissed. Please bring a quiet activity every day in your backpack (cards, blank paper, pens).
When you are dismissed, use the washroom if necessary and then proceed outside. Only on rare occasions should anyone have to return inside the school.

Supervisors will be able to help you until 1:00 p.m.; then teachers will be on duty.

Be sure you are dressed properly for school and for the weather outside. Clothing should be appropriate as to contributing to the positive, welcoming climate of our school. Hats should be off in the school.
For your safety, in winter, you must have shoes to wear indoors. They can be left at school or carried back and forth.

For further information, please telephone 416-396-6060.

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