REVIEW OF Wildwood Academy BY parent, Darren McLennan

(5) Student Experience

Wildwood Academy is an exceptional school with dedicated, compassionate staff and teachers who truly care about their students. The care and attention our son gets is designed for neurodivergent kids like him and customized to his needs and interests. Even the building is optimized with the use of carpet and wood to reduce noise levels so that he can get more work done and return home in an energized rather than exhausted state due to some the sensory challenges he may face. He has strong relationships with his teachers that have been instrumental in his development and his level of interest in academics, which has seen an uptick. He is both much happier and progressing much faster academically than he was at his previous school.

(5) School Leadership

The school leadership clearly cares about students. Our favorite aspect is that all of the staff and teachers, right up to the principal, are easy to get time with when we need it, and they are responsive to our needs. The principal can almost always be seen welcoming children and parents into the school in the morning and seeing them off at 3:50 when everyone is heading home. The principal sends out a weekly email to the parents and is also responsive to parent requests in person or via email.

(4.5) Teaching

The teachers are excellent and passionate about teaching neurodivergent children. They seem only too happy to make time for us. This may be partly due to the excellent student-teacher ratio at the school, leaving them in a state where they are not overwhelmed by parent requests for time and customization for their children. We get a written note daily on how well our student did that day in each class that suggests how well he behaved, how good his work is, and whether he has any homework. We reach this note every day and often respond in the book in writing. We can also easily reach the teachers by email, which we also find helpful at times.

(4.5) Academics

The academic program is customized to each student, with kids grouped loosely into grades that reflect their progress. Accommodations are made for any limitations a child may have so that they can continue learning; for example, our son's fine motor control is a bit underdeveloped, so they will sometimes permit verbal quizzes while still making time to focus on developing his handwriting skills (handwriting has been improving along the way). They also try to integrate themes that interest the children, such as framing questions and learning around preferred topics, such as our son's interest in vehicles and technology. Our only quibble is that we occasionally feel we would like to see more of a focus on pushing our son versus nurturing and understanding.

(4) Extracurriculars

As a small school, there are fewer extracurricular opportunities than at some bigger institutions (enrollment is capped at 65). Still, there are a variety of clubs that can meet the needs of kids such as ours that aren't focused on sports. The school does offer a program to allow kids to stay in school and be busy after school hours for parents that require a later pickup, although I have not used that service.

(4.5) Students

The school is limited to 65 students, which creates a familial atmosphere. The students are all friendly and largely well-behaved. We have never gone into the school at midday to any kind of feeling of chaos or disorder; everything always feels calm and organized. To our knowledge, our son has never been bullied at this school. The teachers do understand that many of the parents have goals for their children that are social as well as academic; we do see that they make efforts to encourage social interaction among the children. There is a friendly environment at pickup time, and all the kids and teachers know one another by name. We have observed the students being kind to one another; for example, we have seen other students of similar age offer to help our son with gathering his things at home time.

(4.5) School Life

Our child would never want to go anywhere else, thanks to the great facility, customized pedagogy, friendly teachers, and overall welcoming environment. There is a reasonable amount of access to technology, such as laptops and tablets, which he likes. The school focuses on more academically intensive programs in the morning when our son has more energy, which suits his ability to lean into his work. The grounds are very well-tended, though perhaps there is a little spare in terms of equipment that the children can play on; our son may have liked access to some more outdoor equipment, which may also have been useful for his physical development. There is a hill in the back that some of the kids use for tobogganing in the winter.

(5) Community

Many parents know one another, and a number of us participate in a WhatsApp group or volunteer for the school in various ways. This is parent-driven, and parents are not under pressure to donate time or money in addition to tuition; I do know that this is a source of consternation at many private schools where parents are already under strain to afford to send their children there. I do find that more of the parents talk to one another at pickup than they did at our son's previous public school. The school does make an effort to host an early-even parent event once or twice per year, which has reasonable attendance. Overall, the parent group is friendly and heavily invested in their children's success.

(4) School Location

The school sits between residential, industrial, commercial and office areas but is on a nice plot of land. Students rarely leave the school grounds during the day, which is entirely fine in our opinion. Happily, the school does have several day-long field trips each term; for example, they have gone to the Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton and to Little Canada in central Toronto, among other trips (we have never been asked to pay additional funds for these trips though we have had to sign a permission form). The location is easy to access as it sits off Ford Drive at a location that is close to the freeway and only 1 kilometer or so from Lakeshore and a few minutes from a GO station.

(5) Admissions

I suggest taking advantage of the opportunity to do a parent tour and a test day for your child. The staff is very supportive of prospective students. In our case, our son immediately said that he no longer wanted to go to his previous public school and wanted to attend Wildwood, even though the commute was almost an hour each way at the time. The application process itself was not difficult, although a deposit was required to secure our son's spot.