Observations from students, parents, and alumni highlight that the small size and intimate environment at KCS foster a strong sense of community and personalized attention, allowing students to form lifelong bonds and take on a variety of unique opportunities.
My son has loved being a student at KCS. He's really enjoyed every facet of his time so far. He's really blossomed and taken on new opportunities. I think the biggest thing that he's enjoyed is the lifelong friendships, but also a different approach to learning, and taking on different projects and different opportunities.
If you're searching for a community, and a smaller school environment, that's what you get with KCS. If you're looking for that big school field, where they have the hockey team, the large field, and all the other extras, that's not what they can provide. But that depends on the needs of your kids. This environment happened to cater perfectly to the needs of both my children. I wasn't looking for a bigger school field.
At KCS, I felt like I was really part of something, a really positive community. I felt happy every day. I wanted to go to school, which was a change from never wanting to be at school. At my previous school, I was actually largely bullied. Every day, I'd be going to school, I'd be bullied, and I'd come home crying. When I moved to KCS, the difference was night and day. I remember just on the first day, every single kid there wanted to be my friend. I wanted to drop out despite being in Grade 6. But in Grades 7 and 8, I actually wanted to go to school. I wanted to talk to the teachers, the people there.
—Christopher Pierro, alum, BMO- process and change management analyst (see
full interview)
The students have a special bond with one another. There is a lot of opportunity for collaboration, because of the classroom sizes. There's typically two classes per grade with up to about 20 students per class. And there's a lot of opportunities for these students to connect in the classroom and outside the classroom through extracurriculars.
The smaller size would be the only thing that I would cite is that, I guess, perhaps a weakness, but also it's also a good thing, because of the population of the students. It's a 400 student body, and the campus reflects that, that it's a smaller sized campus. The smaller size hasn’t really held back the school, in terms of the opportunity to partake and enjoy a number of different areas of a traditional grade school experience.
The community, both within the school and the larger parent community, is something that has been really phenomenal for us as a family. The school has been an incredible anchor both for our children, who've developed lifelong friendships, and for our family, now having a whole network of fantastic people that we've gotten to know over the years, including the children, the parents, as well as the faculty. That's something that's been really wonderful for our family.
The school really does encourage a community spirit in the kids. They do very much encourage a respectful environment among the children, respect towards their teachers, and toward their own parents.
I wish I had enrolled them earlier, because every year at KCS has made a difference in my children’s lives. My kids are really part of a special community that celebrates them every day. So I wish I'd started the process much sooner than I did.
The most surprising thing, for me, was just how welcoming the school felt since day one. I’d been in a couple of schools before that. I definitely noticed that at that school since the first day, I was welcomed immediately and I felt like part of the community. It didn't take a week to feel like I knew a couple of people. The first day I was there, the first minute walking in, everybody wanted to be my friend and wanted me to feel welcome.
—Christopher Pierro, alum, BMO- process and change management analyst (see
full interview)
Choosing KCS is something that you would never regret. It’s an amazing option. Choosing it would be one of the best things for your kids, as it allows them to grow, and they will just have fun all the time. They will want to go to school. They will make such amazing, lifelong friends. It's just an amazing school that nurtures you and allows you to grow.
—Christopher Pierro, alum, BMO- process and change management analyst (see
full interview)
I'm in university now, and I'm years away from KCS, and I still have friendships with many of the people who went there. And if I ever see anybody who went to KCS, on the street or wherever else, I know I can talk to them, as if we just talked two days ago.
—Christopher Pierro, alum, BMO- process and change management analyst (see
full interview)
The three school rules of respect manners, and trying your best are at the forefront of the school culture. Underpinning that is a strong sense of caring and acceptance that is conveyed by the administration, staff and teachers uniformly. The student body strikes us as medium-sized, with a strong sense of shared community and support for one another. A good example of this is witnessed each week at the General assembly, where all students convene.
—BRAD MCCAMUS, parent (beginning 2016) (see
full review)
Our observation is that student life at KCS is a positive experience for our kids. They both enjoy attending the school and feel a strong sense of connection and loyalty to KCS. It seems to feel like home to them in a sense. They feel safe, accepted, genuinely cared about, and welcome. It's difficult to suggest areas for improvement because it is very positive overall. As mentioned above, a firmer stance on discipline for serially disruptive students who do not adhere to the three school rules, and whose parents appear, unable or unwilling to take ownership of the situation, and work to a solution with the school would be helpful. In practical terms, any school is going to find themselves in a difficult situation with disruptive students whose parents opt out of their responsibilities. We suspect this occurs at every school. And we also see that KCS is taking clear steps to address this particular aspect of school life.
—BRAD MCCAMUS, parent (beginning 2016) (see
full review)
