Comments from students, alumni, and administrators suggest that the enduring sense of brotherhood and strong relationships at Crescent School foster a nurturing environment where boys feel like family and support one another in various aspects of school life.
What I appreciated most about Crescent was the community, and especially the community within the grade level. For example, I recently had a virtual reunion with people in my grade — we had about half the grade on a Zoom call, which is impressive these days. We had breakout rooms where we would just have four or five of us catching up for minutes at a time. It was so energizing to see people, and to see how strong the affection is — to see someone you haven’t seen in five years and being like, ‘Wow, I have a deep interest in what you’re doing with your life’.
I just remember every day feeling very positive when I was at Crescent. For example, studying for tests, surrounded by these people who are like, ‘We’ll get to this together’. Those feelings stick with you. And that’s an important feeling to have going into university, that kind of optimism.
The combination of kindness and respect is a common thread among students at Crescent. When you really have this emanating sense of kindness to people around you, respect follows. And you respect people for who they are, you respect them for the value they bring on the sports field or in the classroom, or after school in study groups. So I think people were very kind and I just look back and I think that has led to these authentic relationships that I had, where you have nothing but goodness to feel about the people around you.
I think people would be surprised by the energy in the halls. I remember packs of boys walking down the halls going to the next class. There’s just so much energy going on in the halls. The same hallways that you are walking between classes to and from, those are the same hallways where you’re doing exciting activities, like when you have House Day. It’s like the place itself is filled with energy, and it’s a very positive energy.
The top reason to choose Crescent would definitely be the community. I think the environment that you can be in as a young boy at Crescent is just absolutely ideal in terms of the opportunities, the ability to find yourself, the ability to create meaningful relationships that really give back to you in big ways.
What makes Crescent special is it’s like family. A big value in my own family is the feeling of community, and having that extra layer of love around us. And I really felt that at Crescent when we were choosing a school. I remember going for my interview, when I was 7 or 8 years old, and I remember just thinking, ‘Yeah, this is the place for me’. It just felt like family.
If you were to come into the school, you would see these murals that have been painted by the boys and they feature different backdrops but a common word, and that is: brotherhood. So the boys talk about themselves as brothers. They look up to the older boys and they very much interact with them throughout the course of the day. We have all sorts of formal activities. We have house activities. When a boy comes to the school, they're put into a house, one of six houses, and that house group is a three-to-twelve grouping. And so at various points of the year, we have house activities; some are athletic, some are scholastic, and it all leads up to a house cup at the end of the year.
We have boys in the upper school who serve in formal leadership positions within the house or even outside of the house as prefects. And part of their job is to actually facilitate interactions with older boys and younger boys in each of the three schools. So it happens on a daily basis in all sorts of different ways. It wouldn't be uncommon for you to see, if you were to come in, that there'd be older boys who would actually find their way into a class of students in our lower school and just pop in and visit. It's amazing to see the relationships among the boys and within their peer groups themselves.
I think you would find that our boys are very respectful, they're kind, they care deeply about each other in their school. These sorts of very human qualities counterbalance the fact that they are also very bright, very capable. Those are some of the qualities that I think of a Crescent student. Nothing pleases me more when I get notes from the community. And by and large, they're always positive. Nothing pleases me more than to hear that out in the community, our boys have a positive reputation.
I think what differentiates Crescent School is there's a culture of collaboration, teamwork, and unity that essentially creates a brotherhood among the students. Of course, it's like more of an extended family because you have teachers, parents, everyone else involved, too.
Among the students, you are part of a brotherhood. You really care about each other more than just peers at school. It goes beyond that. Most of my best friends nowadays were my friends from Crescent School, and I imagine that a lot of them will be my friends for life. I think that's definitely something that I wouldn't say every high school creates. I think that's something really unique about Crescent School and I'm very happy I was able to experience it. It's benefitted me years down the road as well.
As a Grade 6 student, I never could have imagined that the school I went to could be so much more than the academics, and that really caught me off guard. I think it becomes a lot more obvious once you go into the school, you get a really good sense of how it's much more of a community beyond just going to class, taking your notes, doing your tests and going home.
The biggest thing that I appreciate at Crescent School was the relationships and the connections I made at the school. That network, whether it be my peers, teachers, students in other grades, faculty, and even parents, everyone was part of this really big extended family. To this day, some of my closest friends are the ones I met at Crescent School.
The dynamic of being in a relatively smaller school, combined with smaller class sizes brings everyone together a lot easier. Almost everyone is a familiar face. Crescent School is really part of your extended family, and I'm not talking only about your peers and your classmates, but really, with everyone at the school.
We did the tour, and we were impressed by what Crescent School had, and we were blown away. We walked through the Manor doors and it was this warmth and like you were at home. We got this nice feeling inside. I remember hearing one of the teachers at the open house, and I was in awe. I thought ‘oh, my God. If my son comes here, he'll be loved. He'll be taken care of,’ because as a mom, you worry about that stuff, right?
I don't think I've met one family that I can honestly say anything bad about at Crescent School. I've been here for five years,and there's not one parent that's approached me or I've met through volunteering that ever had anything bad to say.
Crescent School has done well the way the community is built, because It's a family.
Families are very engaged with the school and very friendly. We moved from out of province. We didn't really know anybody at the school. Everybody has in common a pride in the school and a caring for their kids. People tend to look up for one another. It's quite a close-knit family across the school.
We were so pleased to hear that our boys were happy from the start. They loved their old school. For one of them, moving to Grade 7 and into Crescent, he really wasn't eager to move and change schools because he was going to leave his friends. When we started at Crescent we asked him, ‘How do you feel? How are you doing?’ They responded exceptionally well. It was way better than we thought, even though they weren't eager to move.
Speaking for our younger son, what he appreciates most in school and what made his transition to Crescent so much easier is that he loved his cohort. Across the board, he had a nice group of kids. And I think that's the norm at Crescent. All the boys that are in his grade, they all get along really well. He had a really easy time. And I don't think it was just luck. I think he loved it from day one because he was able to find so many good friends right off the bat.
Students get along pretty well, I bet the friendship and family feel is bred through the school culture. They enjoy friendship as soon as the first day they arrive at the school. Crescent boys are strong. It is because they are cultivated in many sport activities since grade three. Crescent school students are recognized as gentlemen feel and spirit. It is because they receive the character education since they are young. Students are very knowledgeable due to the fact that they are encouraged to explore many fields and challenges in the school. Students are quite humble, gentle, confident, humorous and they have sport spirit. People usually describe Crescent boys as “sunshine gentlemen”, which is genuine to me.
—Claire Chen, parent (beginning 2015) (see
full review)
Kids like Crescent school because they have good friendship. My kids told me they fell in love with Crescent the first month they came to this school. They love going to school everyday and they can’t wait to come back to the school right away when the summer vacation is over. They want to meet friends and teachers. They can arrange play days with friends. With friends share common hobbies, they can play soccer or basketball together, they can do research or play robotics together, they can go bubble run or go summer camps together. There are lots of things waiting for them to explore or complete together. The school life is busy but happy. Students are confident, enjoying and fulfilled in school life.
—Claire Chen, parent (beginning 2015) (see
full review)
Parents are like family members and everyone likes to help others. School welcomes parents to be involved in the life of the school. Most parents enjoy volunteering in the school and share experience to new comers. The family community is warm and multi-culture. Everyone can raise their hand and say his/her opinion or give a hand to organize an event. Crescent school is well known for its huge garage sale in the neighbourhood. This event is organized and helped by all Crescent parents every year. The community atmosphere is caring and very positive. People will feel this atmosphere when they come to the open house events. As a parent, I volunteer in many activities. We appreciate that school give us sunshine boys. We are happy to give back more sunshine to school.
—Claire Chen, parent (beginning 2015) (see
full review)
