301 Byron Street South, Whitby, Ontario, L1N 4P9, Canada
306 St. John's Sideroad, Aurora, Ontario, L4G 4B4, Canada
2005
2020
Varies
173
Nursery/Toddler to 8
5 to 10
Coed
Girls
Day
Day
English, French
English
Arts
Academic
Montessori
Traditional
Varies
18 to 22
In-class adaptations
$12,250 to $15,750
$41,440
No
Yes
0%
0%
None
5 to 10
$0
$7,500
0
29
0%
0%
100%
0%
Nursery/Toddler, Preschool, JK, SK, K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Rolling
Rolling
Not available
Not available
Yes
Yes
No
No
information not available
information not available
The most striking thing about Hatch House, at least initially, is that, yup, it’s a castle. It was built in 1874 by industrialist Nelson Gilbert Reynolds after he sold his previous home, Trafalgar Castle (which, in time, also became home to a prominent private school, Trafalgar Castle School). The name, Hatch House, comes from a later owner, Frederick Hatch who lived there from 1904 to 1969.
The best use for the building, by far, is the one it has now: serving as home to Hatch House Montessori. The building adds a nice spark to the school identity, and the interior spaces are charming and include many updates to suit the needs of the academic program—the most recent being “The Hatch,” a discovery room. A strong academic program has been augmented by an impressive language program that covers French and Spanish instructions. Principal Zsuzsanna Vigh says that “education is a journey, not a race.” She’s right, of course, and that perspective informs all areas of student life.
View full reportLaunched in 2022, St. Anne’s is an all-girls school that resides on an expansive campus. The school is setting high standards from the outset. It offers a safe, nurturing, and caring environment where girls strive for academic excellence while developing their abilities through robust athletics, arts, drama, and music programs. A wide variety of extracurriculars helps girls find their passions, boost their confidence, and sets them up for a lifetime of self-discovery. St. Anne’s curriculum is designed to foster sisterhood, develop leadership skills, and embolden girls with an “I can do anything” mindset.
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"Hatch House Montessori School is voted Durham Region's Best Montessori School. We provide exceptional care and education from 18 months to Grade 8. We are proud to be the 1st and only private school offering unique Multi-lingual Programs, Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Martial Arts within our enriched curriculum. Our goal is to inspire children's self-discovery, to empower them to become confident, contributing members of society, to deliver above expectations and to strive to reach beyond the imaginable."
"Welcome to St. Anne’s School, an all-girls independent school in Aurora, Ontario, offering a warm and inspirational learning environment for girls to build character, own their voice, and strive for distinction. The curriculum is complemented by a wide range of co-curriculars and a robust athletic program along with a strong focus on arts, drama, and music. A St. Anne’s education sets the foundation for a lifetime of self-discovery, sparks a passion for knowledge, and prepares young women to build a better world."
"The school's adherence to the Montessori method is highlighted as a significant value proposition. Parents recognize the effectiveness of this educational approach in promoting independence, creativity, and a love for learning among students. And they see what a true Montessori school should look like and feel like when they visit."
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"Parents consistently praise the school for its incredibly dedicated teachers who not only provide education but also genuine care and support for the students. This dedication results in a warm and nurturing environment where children thrive emotionally and academically."
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"Parents are often surprised that their children achieve early learning milestones at an accelerated pace within our Montessori environment. This includes skills such as reading, language acquisition, and cultural studies, setting children up for success in their educational journey."
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Traditional
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Particularly popular in the younger grades (preschool to elementary), but sometimes available all the way up to high school, Montessori schools offer an alternative vision to the standard lesson format of most classrooms. Instead of listening to whole-class lessons, Montessori classrooms allow students to choose which "tasks" or activities interest them. These tasks centre around special Montessori puzzles - their essential feature being they contain a right answer and allow for selfcorrection. A strong emphasis is therefore placed on lessons being concrete and rooted in practical experience, along with students developing a sense of self-sufficiency, confidence and curiosity.
Traditional curricula tend to be very content-based and rooted in the core disciplines. It is a structured approach that involves the teacher delivering a unified curriculum through direct instruction. Students usually learn by observing and listening to their teacher, studying facts and concepts in textbooks, and completing both tests and written assignments - which challenge students to not only demonstrate their mastery of content but their ability to analyze and deconstruct it critically. Class discussions are also used to create critical dialogue around the content of the curriculum.
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The HHMS Montessori Elementary curriculum is based on the Montessori philosophy of ‘Cosmic Education.’ Cosmic education is an ingenious method devised by Dr. Montessori to use as the primary means of education in the period 6-9 years; it is a bold, and exciting method of learning about the origin of our universe, life on Earth, the emergence of humans, and the history of math and writing, designed to awaken and spark the imaginations of the elementary students. These insightful lessons become the springboard of all learning explorations of culture, science, mathematics, language and social rules and morals from grades 1 - 8. Our focus on Performing and Visual Arts provides extraordinary opportunities for self-expression of the developing minds. HHMS offers a unique French-English Bilingual Elementary Program, which exploits the extraordinary capabilities and receptiveness of children to master the intricacies of the languages with ease in a fully bilingual environment. Spanish is also incorporated in the language curriculum. HHMS is Durham Region's 1st and only Montessori School offering multi-lingual programs.
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Discovery Math turns traditional math on its head: it frequently begins by introducing a novel problem to students, and works its way back to “discovering” a method of solving the problem. The goal is to ground mathematical procedures and algorithms firmly in their applications, and to challenge students to think critically about how they might go about solving the problem right from the beginning. Generally associated with the “Chicago Math” movement and related Everyday Math textbooks (Grades 1 to 6), Discovery math spends less classroom time mastering established algorithms and more time getting students invested in and thinking critically about novel mathematical problems and concepts. In this sense Discovery Math aims to establish conceptual and applied understand before procedural understanding.
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Children grasp concepts through the manipulation and aid of self-correcting, concrete materials as they move gradually toward increasingly abstract thinking. The Montessori Arithmetic materials engage multiple senses, the lessons are dramatic, and impressionistic to spark the imagination and curiosity of the students.
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Systematic-phonics programs teach young children to read by helping them to recognize and sound out the letters and syllables of words. Students are then led to blend these sounds together to sound out and recognize the whole word. While other reading programs might touch on phonetics (either incidentally or on a “when needed” basis), systematic phonics teaches phonics in a specific sequence, and uses extensive repetition and direct instruction to help readers associate specific letter patterns with their associated sounds.
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Programs that balance systematic and process approaches equally likely have an emphasis on giving young students ample opportunities to write, while providing supplementary class-wide instruction in grammar, parts of sentences, and various writing strategies.
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Inquiry-based science emphasizes teaching science as a way of thinking or practice, and therefore tries to get students “doing” science as much as possible -- and not just “learning” it. Students still learn foundational scientific ideas and content (and build on this knowledge progressively); however, relative to expository science instruction, inquiry-based programs have students spend more time developing and executing their own experiments (empirical and theoretical). Students are frequently challenged to develop critical and scientific-thinking skills by developing their own well-reasoned hypothesis and finding ways to test those hypotheses. Projects and experiments are emphasized over textbook learning. Skills are emphasized over breadth of knowledge.
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Evolution as consensus theory
Evolution as one of many equally viable theories
Evolution is not taught
Evolution as consensus theory
Evolution as one of many equally viable theories
Evolution is not taught
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These literature programs draw in equal measure from “Traditional” and “Social Justice” programs.
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Ancient lit
English lit
World (non-Western) lit
European (continental) lit
American lit
Canadian lit
Ancient lit
English lit
World (non-Western) lit
European (continental) lit
American lit
Canadian lit
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Our elementary social studies program incorporates all three approaches.
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The communicative method of language acquisition emphasizes the use of the target language in authentic contexts. The approach commonly features interactive group work, games, authentic texts, and opportunities to learn about the cultural background of the language. Drills and quizzes may still be used, but less frequently than with the audio-lingual method.
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Hebrew
ESL
Spanish
Russian
Latin
Japanese
Italian
Greek
German
French
Chinese-Mandarin
Chinese-Cantonese
Hebrew
ESL
Spanish
Russian
Latin
Japanese
Italian
Greek
German
French
Chinese-Mandarin
Chinese-Cantonese
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These programs have an equal emphasis on receptive and creative learning.
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Acting
Dance
Drama/Theatre
Graphic Design
Music
Visual Arts
Acting
Dance
Drama/Theatre
Graphic Design
Music
Visual Arts
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Computers are used in the classroom from time to time, but integrating technology into everything students do is not a dominant focus. Digital literacy is understood to be a legitimate skill in the 21st century, but not one that should distract from teaching the subject at hand, or more fundamental skills and literacies. The idea is today’s students, being “digital natives”, are likely exposed to computers and new media enough outside the classroom: the role of the school, rather, should be to develop competencies that may otherwise get missed.
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Web design
Robotics
Computer science
Web design
Robotics
Computer science
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Montessori programs aimed at preschool and Kindergarten- aged children allow young learners to choose which “tasks” or activities interest them. These tasks centre around special Montessori puzzles -- the essential features of these puzzles being they contain a “right answer” and allow for self-correction. A strong emphasis is therefore placed on learning being concrete and rooted in practical experience, along with children developing a sense of self-sufficiency and confidence. Specially trained teachers act as guides, introducing children to progressively more difficult materials when appropriate. A Montessori classroom is typically very calm and orderly, with children working alone or, sometimes, in small groups.
If you want to learn more about Montessori education, check out our comprehensive guide. You can also check out our guide to Montessori preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools.
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Our Junior Casa Programme is the natural extension of our Toddler Programme, capitalizing on the acquired skills and achievements of the children. It is delivered based on the harmonious amalgamation of the Montessori philosophy and ELECT. In our Casa classrooms the freedom of movement and the freedom of choice are nurtured. Using coordinated movements to accomplish tasks leads the child toward self-regulation. Children develop observation and problem-solving skills in our prepared environments. Natural limitations instill respect of self, others, and towards their environment. By manipulating, experimenting, and discovering, children begin to move from concrete to abstract.
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The main curriculum pace is non-standardized and is HIGHLY responsive to the pacing of individual students, (via differentiated instruction, differentiated assessment, etc). In theory, some students outpace the default/normalized curriculum, while others spend periods "behind schedule" if they need the extra time.
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A school with a “supportive” academic culture focuses more on process than short-term outcomes: academic performance is a welcomed side-benefit, but not the driving focus. This does not mean the school lacks standards, or has low expectations for its students: a school can have a supportive academic culture and still light the fire of ambition in its students. It does mean, however, the school provides a less intensive culture than schools with a “rigorous” academic classification, and is focused more simply on instilling a love of learning and life-long curiosity.
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The HHMS academic culture is driven by the students' inner desire and will to always challenge themselves to achieve more and to surpass their own expectations. Allowing students to develop at their own pace propels them towards exceptional academic performance while maintaining life-long curiosity.
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"We intentionally avoid all forms of public distinction between students in terms of academic performance."
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Balanced
Equal emphasis is placed on a balance of priorities: intellectual, emotional, social and physical cultivation.
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Emotional
The goal is to cultivate "emotionally intelligent and confident individuals, capable of leading both themselves and others."
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At HHMS we aim to inspire and empower our students to develop a life-long love of learning and to become responsible, valuable, confident and contributing members of society.
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CompetitiveComp. |
RecreationalRec. |
CompetitiveComp. |
RecreationalRec. |
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Badminton |
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Baseball |
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Basketball |
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Canoeing/Kayaking |
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Cricket |
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Cross-country skiing |
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Cycling |
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Downhill skiing |
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Equestrian |
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Fencing |
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Field Hockey |
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Figure Skating |
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Football |
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Golf |
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Gymnastics |
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Ice Hockey |
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Ice Skating |
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Lacrosse |
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Martial Arts |
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Mountain biking |
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Racquet Ball |
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Rowing |
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Rugby |
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Running |
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Sailing |
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Skateboarding |
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Snowboarding |
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Soccer |
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Softball |
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Squash |
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Swimming |
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Tennis |
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Track & Field |
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Volleyball |
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Weightlifting |
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Wrestling |
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Archery |
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Curling |
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Ultimate |
Ballet and Classical Ballet
Yoga
Yearbook
Student Council
Scouting
Science Club
School newspaper
Round Square
Robotics club
Radio club
Poetry/Literature club
Photography
Paintball
Outdoor Education
Outdoor Club
Online Magazine
Musical theatre/Opera
Math Club
Jazz Ensemble
Habitat for Humanity
Foreign Language Club
Environmental Club
Drama Club
Debate Club
Dance Club
Computer Club
Community Service
Choir
Chess Club
Band
Audiovisual Club
Astronomy Club
Art Club
Animation
Ballet and Classical Ballet
Yoga
Yearbook
Student Council
Scouting
Science Club
School newspaper
Round Square
Robotics club
Radio club
Poetry/Literature club
Photography
Paintball
Outdoor Education
Outdoor Club
Online Magazine
Musical theatre/Opera
Math Club
Jazz Ensemble
Habitat for Humanity
Foreign Language Club
Environmental Club
Drama Club
Debate Club
Dance Club
Computer Club
Community Service
Choir
Chess Club
Band
Audiovisual Club
Astronomy Club
Art Club
Animation
5 - 10
0%
0%
$0
$7,500
100%
0%
Nursery/Toddler, Preschool, JK, SK, K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Rolling
Rolling
Not available
Not available
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
STEP 1:
Complete the online application and pay the non-refundable application fee of $175. (Application link above)
STEP 2:
Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation email and have access to the Application Checklist. This includes access to upload the following required documents:
STEP 3:
Students being considered for entry will be invited to a 30-minute formal candidate interview. Our main intake years include Grades 5, 7, 8 and 9, as these grades have the most available positions. Positions in all other grades are limited to attrition.
STEP 4:
Applications that are completed, along with the candidate interview, by December 1, 2023, will be considered in our first round of Admission offers.
The following decisions will be made:
Admission decisions will be sent out Thursday, December 14, 2023. Admission offers after this date will be made on a rolling basis and will be dependent on the available spots that remain.
English Requirements
St. Anne’s School does not offer an ESL program. For students to be successful at St. Anne’s School, they must demonstrate fluency in English in both oral and written communication. Applicants applying to Grades 5 through 11 whose first language is not English may be required to complete an English proficiency test such as the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo assessment.
301 Byron Street South, Whitby, Ontario, L1N 4P9, Canada
306 St. John's Sideroad, Aurora, Ontario, L4G 4B4, Canada
