Originally named "Leslie Garden School", Bruce Jr. Public School is located in the Leslieville area in a space previously occupied by The Leslie Nursery Gardens. When the nursery was sold, construction started and a new school opened in 1923. We provide Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 and have a vibrant Early Years partnership with WoodGreen Community Services, providing seamless childcare and learning opportunities for families and children of all ages and backgrounds.
Vibrant Partnerships = Student Success
Together Bruce Public School, WoodGreen Community Services and our Parenting and Family Literacy Centre provide a progressive integrated program of kindergarten, child care and family support. Our partnership with WoodGreen Community Services allows us to provide exemplary services to our students and families including childcare before, during and after regular school hours.
Balance and Varied Learning Opportunities for All
Families, staff and Bruce community partners strive to provide meaningful learning experiences for all of our students. Regularly scheduled professional development opportunities provide our staff with a vibrant Professional Learning Community in which to plan for rich learning experiences for our students. We also invite families to be active participants in creating an excellent learning environment through participation in our School Activity Council, the Caring and Safe School Committee, and through volunteering in the school.
More Information about Bruce Public School
Health and Physical Activity
We recognize that children need to learn about the love of maintaining a healthy mind in a healthy body. Collaboratively with our Health and Physical Education teacher, staff at Bruce are focused on providing a wide variety of heart healthy active experiences that will help children and families to make good choices about daily physical activities.
We love our volunteers!
A wide variety of volunteers add to our learning family at Bruce: from parents who add to the daily learning throughout our school by sharing their time, skills and enthusiasm, to lawyers who volunteer their time (Borden, Ladner, Gervais - BLG Reads to Kids Project), to Toronto Public Health (One to One Mentoring with Hydro employees). We welcome and appreciate everyone!
Arts education is integral to a well balanced life
We strive to provide a full spectrum of learning opportunities for our students and families. Visual arts, dance, drumming, band, ORFF percussion music and drama opportunities all support our goal of teaching a love of the arts. Our parent community has has been very enthusiastically supporting opportunities for our students to explore the arts with our annual Arts Week.
Morning Meal
Our school provides a healthy morning meal to every student, providing a snack made up of three food groups. Our nutrition program is supported by parent involvement. We also teach our students about growing and harvesting healthy foods with seasonal lessons in our vegetable gardens.
Additional Features
● Eco-school since 2006
● ORFF instruments for classroom use
● Scientists in Schools
● Roots of Empathy
● Band for Grade7/8 students
● Computer Lab
● Art and Music classes
Student Life - Where You Belong
We are a small yet active school community made up of caring kind people who have created an inclusive place of learning for all. With the enthusiastic support of our School Advisory Council, community partners, and dedicated staff, student life is rich and varied. Since 2010, each school year, we start off in September with a wonderful community pot luck. Annually we host a Family Event Night, followed by winter and spring concerts later on in the year. Regular assemblies and school wide lessons to highlight important character traits help our students to grow into thoughtful caring people. A wide range of sports and physical activities offered before, during and after the instructional day contribute to a general enthusiasm for life at Bruce School. Visiting artists, writers and performers add to the learning experiences that we provide, along with many trips and excursions to the many points of interest in and around the city of Toronto. Don't be surprised to see Bruce students at Toronto art galleries, sports venues, green houses or on the TTC heading to the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art to make original clay sculptures!
What Sets Us Apart
Central to the vision of Bruce WoodGreen Early Learning Centre is the premise that families are the first and most powerful influence on children's learning and development. BWELC welcomes families as partners in the early learning programs and the school, creating a place that is owned by families as much as it is by teachers. Respect for diversity and differences in family make-up, culture, values and practice are embedded in the knowledge that strong relationships with parents benefit young children. The early years team is inclusive of all educators at Bruce School including teachers, early childhood educators, resource teachers, family support staff, and administrators with a variety of educational backgrounds and expertise. Staff roles are blended, and shared professional development and reciprocal mentoring is key to the success of the team and is encouraged and supported through joint training and supervision. The children benefit from a team teaching environment and we believe that children’s development is grounded in family, community and cultural contexts.
Parent and Community Engagement
Our School Advisory Council (SAC) works closely with the Principal and all staff members to enhance the life of the school. Parents are an integral part of the learning process, assisting on field trips, building a strong sense of community with events such as our Fallowe'en Fair, our December Holiday Hoopla, our Winter Dance-a-thon, evening Skate event at Greenwood Park and our Spring Fun Fair and BBQ, and supporting special committees e.g. School Improvement, Information Technology, Ward Council. All parents are welcome and encouraged to play an active role in the life of our school. It's really up to you to determine how much time you want to, and are able to give, to help with the important learning that your child will be doing at Bruce. You'll always find a helping hand and friend at Bruce and we encourage you to get involved! After all, at Bruce School we are a learning family
