Unire: one puzzle, many pieces
Welcome to Avondale Elementary Alternative School ! For almost 40 years Avondale has offered an alternative vision of education in the public system to students throughout Toronto. Temporarily located at Bayview Middle School, Avondale is a small, safe, family-like school with an intimate and personal feel. At Avondale, students learn in a rigorous academic setting where close working relationships with staff and students are valued and celebrated. Our vision is to create a safe and nurturing learning and teaching environment that supports optimal development and excellence across all domains.
What is Alternative?
Great programming. Developed continuum of co-learners over 10 years. Rich parental support and involvement. Meaningful and lasting relationships.
More Information About Avondale Elementary Alternative School
Academics
Through a model of collaborative inquiry Avondale students have every opportunity to really take their learning to the next level.
Beyond the Curriculum
Don't expect textbooks and students sitting at a desk all day doing questions 1-25. Expect going beyond the curriculum in depth and breadth. Expect rich and enthusiastic discourse on every topic. Expect learning in and outside the classroom. Expect challenging and integrated learning units.
Arts and Athletics
Avondale continues to grow our strong music program, including classroom instruction and school wide productions/concerts. Teamwork, determination and skill development are all key pieces to our Health and Physical Education program. Classroom experience is further enhanced with a very comprehensive house league and inter-school athletics program.
Beyond the Classroom
Ask us about: Geneva Park, Horseshoe Valley Ski days, Mono Cliffs, Forest Valley, STEM-tastic, Mackenzie Science and Engineering Olympics (MSEO)
Parents as partners
Schools, private and public, use this term A LOT. At Avondale parents are very active partners in our school program. everything from guest teachers, excursion supervisors, play doh makers (recipe provided), custom makers, Spring Fair planners... When we say Parents as Partners, we mean it!
Student Life - Where You Belong
Students are engaged in literacy and numeracy learning across the curricula, building concrete connections and links between subjects and areas/topics, and drawing original conclusions as they apply new understandings. Students are exposed to the Arts in an ongoing theme at Avondale: our students observe, create and animate musical productions, dances, visual and performance-arts pieces, dramatic exercises, and more! Avondale students experience the world up-close! Out-of-classroom experiences and classroom guest experts bring relevance and concreteness to the Ontario Curriculum. Student process is valued at Avondale. Students take risks, bravely experience unfamiliar territory, estimate and plan, problem-solve, and trouble-shoot, and reflect on their new understandings. Avondale is what we all thought school could be.
What Sets Us Apart
Here at Avondale Alternative Elementary School, students and adults acknowledge one another by first name as partners in the learning adventure! The hallways are filled with laughter as older students read with younger schoolmates, talk them through problem-solving, perhaps throw an arm around a shoulder for comfort. One teacher may be working with a small group, while another is counselling a pre-teen about life in all of its intensity. Mathematics comes to life through authentic, real-life activities and projects, as does Science and the Arts. Language fills the air at Avondale, language about polygons and thesis construction and Louis Riel and trips to Mars. Paint is accidentally spilled accompanied by more laughter. Student circles process a bad choice made in the playground, the ramifications to our school culture are played out and a range of responses are considered. Teachers plan together, share resources and experiences, support one another...grow together.
Parent and Community Engagement
Avondale Schools is proud to serve the needs of children and parents in both our local Yonge-Sheppard community (Avondale Public School), and our extended Toronto-wide community (Avondale Alternative Elementary School). Avondale Schools is home, as are all TDSB schools, to a host of international languages. We invite the community to teach us, to learn from us, to help support us through fundraising, and to embrace your school by visiting frequently and becoming meaningfully involved. Avondale parents are the lifeblood of our educational venture: we encourage wide-ranging involvement of all community members. The Avondale Schools School Council has many active parent members. representing both the Schools.
