Feedback from parents underscores that the warm and personalized interactions at Sunnybrook, where every staff member knows each child by name, create an especially welcoming atmosphere that makes students feel supported from their first day.
I think most parents would be really impressed to know that every teacher knows every single child’s name. Every teacher teaches every student in the school and treats them just like they were their own student, so that everyone has the same respect. Everybody knows everybody and it’s very welcoming. I think it’s a very open community where the parents feel like they can come and express any concerns or even feedback or suggestions.
It really helps that all the teachers really know the kids. That’s because it’s a really small school, and there wasn’t a lot of staff turnover either. Even if your child is only in Grade 1, the Grade 6 teacher will still know your child. They begin to know them early on, and they do a lot of school activities together with all the teachers. For example, they do this wonderful school musical at the end of the year. The students get to know each other really well, across grade levels. I found it really heartwarming.
I think what our son appreciates the most is that he knows everybody, all the teachers, all the students, and all the grades. It’s funny, because we found that Grade 2 students all know Grade 6 students, and they all interact, and they know each other's names. There really is a community feeling, a feeling of belonging that your child gets, knowing everybody. I think he's enjoyed that over all his years there. He feels he's part of it, part of the place, and then he carries that on, as well, interacting with the younger generations.
We were looking to enrol our son in a school that was small, a small community, because we felt he needed a little bit more of a hands-on approach. When we visited Sunnybrook, it had a small-community feeling. It was very welcoming, very warm. And looking at the type of person our son was, we realized this would be a great fit for him.
The kids at Sunnybrook knew each other so well that they really were like siblings. It was unbelievable. One nice thing about that was they forgave other kids for some of their quirks and stuff, whereas maybe in a bigger school they would have been made fun of. They saw each other for who they were. They had known each other for so long, they didn’t think of any of their quirks or anything as odd. They were very accepting of each other.
By the end of Grade 6, everybody knew it was time to move on to a larger environment, but if you had asked my kids a few years earlier, they would have said, ‘We’re going to stay here forever. This is our home.’
The school makes everyone feel special, which no matter who you are, everyone, I think, needs a little bit of that. While you're there, it doesn't feel like a small school, because the personality, the love, and the joy that it brings is so big. Looking back on it now, the first thing I remember about it is not how small it was; it is about how huge the personality of the school was. It makes everyone feel included.
You feel good when you drop your child off at Sunnybrook. You know they’re going to have a great day. You know they’re going to expend energy in a really productive and constructive way. They’re going to learn something amazing. They’re going to do something with their hands. They’re going to have a terrific lunch. As working parents, there’s a phenomenal aftercare, before and after school care program that we always felt really good about leaving our kids with. The vibe is just so comfortable.
Our daughter really liked the close-knit community. The community is a really strong aspect of the school. There's one class or one cohort per grade. So getting to know all the people in her class, but also the kids in the elder grades as well, was really nice.
—Nina and Mark Angelo, parent (beginning in Gr. 1) (see
full interview)
My son quickly made friends, got a lot of good teacher attention, and the like, and so it was not too much of an adjustment period. The setting was small and very personal. I don't remember too much of an adjustment period.
My kids love the fact that it is a small school, they love that sense of community, and they love that everybody is friendly, and they have pride in their school. Everybody knows each other, from JK right to Grade 6. The JK kids aren’t afraid to say hello to the Grade 6 kids, and the Grade 6 kids will say hello to the JK kids.
The physical location of the school is quite small, and I think what surprised us was that it doesn't feel small. A benefit of being small is just having more of that community across grades, across various parent groups. And so, overall, it feels like a normal, medium-sized school setting, in a way that I might not have thought from just our first visit to the location.
I love the fact that my little SK child could walk down the hall, and an older child would know his name. That in itself is huge. At a larger school, that just doesn’t happen. But at Sunnybrook, the big kids and little kids spend time together, they work together closely for things like the school musical. It’s part of what makes it a small, caring environment.
Before choosing Sunnybrook, we looked at bigger schools, and at single-sex schools. Both my children went onto bigger schools as well. But at the time, the bigger schools just seemed too big for us. To us they seemed more like public schools in terms of size. And we didn’t really understand single-sex education, because my husband and I both went to coed public schools. We also were concerned about having them in just one school from kindergarten all the way to Grade 12. We wanted some change and transition, thinking that different schools could give them different abilities and different experiences. So that led us toward Sunnybrook.
The atmosphere was very happy, always sunshine and rainbows, no matter what was going on at the school or outside of it. It was always a place where I felt like I could leave all my problems at the door, because what was going on inside was always happy and always positive. Of course, there's always moments where things might not be that way, but as I remember it, it was always a very happy place.
I am a big fan of my school, and I really have a lot of belief in everything it stands for, and everything that it taught me. As I've moved further and further away from it, I've understood more about it, and I've realized just what it did for me and the things that it taught me. I don't really remember things that I didn't like. And I'm still friends with a lot of the kids I went to school with. And none of us have anything bad to say about the school.
I think one of the best parts is the deep friendships that our children have developed. Children, even in Grade 1, start to develop very deep friendships. I also think about how well I’ve gotten to know some of the families, not just parents of my children’s close friends, but also with those I’ve been socializing with at school events over the years.
I think what my kids really like about the school is that there's a lot of continuity, through their school life. There's not a lot of turnover in students. They've been with their friends since Senior Kindergarten through Grade 6 and Grade 3.
There are three things that, when combined, really differentiate Sunnybrook: It’s a very small, tight-knit school, it’s coed, and it’s an IB school. I don’t know of another school that has all three of those things.
The student body at SBS is small, and this is one of the major factors that initially drew me to the school. With grades from JK to grade 6 represented, and a maximum of 20 students in grades one through six (16 in both JK and SK), the sense of community is wonderful. It is such a welcoming and warm environment, which is especially nice for smaller children. Students at the school are respectful and polite. Older children get to know the younger kids through programs such as learning buddies, which have benefits to both sides. Children often make friends with students in other grades. They get to know other students through house games and activities. I can't imagine my daughter having a better school environment - it is simply wonderful.
—Laura Waters, parent (beginning 2019) (see
full review)
The size of this school is in a way that is not intimidating for younger students, but at the same time encourages interaction with older student to help them grow. With one JK and one SK classroom close to one another, younger students know each other and start developing friendships. The setup of each classroom is very inviting and equipped with interactive technology an the necessary tools for learning. Our daughter enjoys the time she spend with her learning buddy from Grade 5. It is all like a big happy family.
—Reza Asadikia, parent (beginning 2016) (see
full review)
The size of the school and each grade make the environment like a family. Students know each other and interact with various teachers and even the principal at a personal level.
—Reza Asadikia, parent (beginning 2016) (see
full review)
