Insights from faculty and students indicate that Appleby College ensures a balance of arts, athletics, and service through structured co-curricular programs, offering an exceptional variety of activities that allow students to explore new interests and develop diverse skills beyond the classroom.
I was pretty surprised by just the sheer amount of offerings and ways that you could get involved at Appleby College. We had so many clubs. I was coming from a school where we only had a few. At Appleby College, there was no way you could be in everything. There were so many offerings, and I found my home in a few.
Without Appleby, I don't think I'd be where I am today, especially in my hockey career. Hockey definitely helped me. Just the relationships I formed through hockey, the networking that I was able to do through Appleby hockey was really important and has helped me get to where I am today. I just learned so much from Appleby in terms of life skills and just values. For me, speaking personally, I am forever in debt to my parents for enrolling me in Appleby.
With the extracurricular opportunities, no matter what you are interested in, there is something for you at Appleby College. If you are interested in sports, there is something for you. If you’re like an amazing volleyball player, the volleyball team is competitive, and there are a lot of competitions, and you can join that at whatever level you’re at. If you love service, volunteering, working with youth, and youth empowerment, there’s something for you. If you want to be a leader of culture, and leading the student body, and creating new and cutting-edge programming for Appleby itself, then there’s something for you.
Students must have three co-curriculars: one for each term, and one or two club experiences on top of that. So that could be Arts, Athletics, Service, or a wide variety of other things. Kids have to do that through to Grade 12. We require them to have a minimum number of Athletics, and it’s the same thing with Arts and Service: so even if you’re a jock, you’ve got to do something in the Arts area. If you’re passionate about more academically-oriented things, you’ve still got to do a sport. Part of that is giving students a taste for things.
Appleby College has programs that are high-quality enough that, if you’re passionate about Drama, or Singing, or Rugby, or Mathematics, the calibre of the program is strong enough you can actually go and pursue that at a really high level. So finding that balance between excellence and breadth is important in the younger years. In the younger years, it’s more about breadth; as the kids get older, there’s a higher degree of choice.
I think one big thing about Appleby is that it focuses on the whole student. It focuses on creating well-rounded students. Of course, you've got strong academics. Of course, you've got arts, you've got athletics, you've got service. But there's so much more on top of that. There's leadership. There's global education. The school prepares kids to be sent off into the world to be global citizens.
What stands out is the love my children have for the school. They never once said they didn't want to go to school. They were excited to attend every day. They are excited to participate in sports, co-curricular activities, and they enjoy time with their classmates and friends. This fondness for the school persists, and it makes them look forward to events like homecoming where they can reconnect with friends and teachers. Their engagement with various school activities and their love for the school culture and climate are testament to the positive environment that Appleby provides.
The door is wide open at Appleby in terms of what these children can try, and they really are encouraged to try different things. Initially, we thought my son would engage in specific co-curriculars and clubs, but he's doing something completely different every term, which I love. Both my children have indeed been introduced to new opportunities and managed to step outside of their comfort zone.
What I truly value is the advisor system in both the middle and the upper school. Students have an advisor who accompanies them throughout their time at Appleby and helps them become their own individual. This person serves as their ambassador at school, facilitating the exploration of opportunities outside the regular curriculum, something that has been greatly appreciated.
I was so impressed by the beautiful campus and so many activities, after-school activities and so many options for extracurricular activities. That’s my dream school. Then I applied for Appleby and my daughter had a really great time. Four years at Appleby, from Grade 9 to Grade 12.
Appleby provides many opportunities for the students. The students can join or start different clubs, they can have a dance club, you can start an art club, anything. You can build your own club. And many after-school activities start from Grade 9. They also have very good hockey and swimming teams. There are many different choices for the students. With languages, too, you can learn Chinese, you can learn Spanish, you can learn German.
It’s the amazing grounds, the sports facilities, the variety of activities that school has to offer—being Music, being Drama, whatever the kids want to do. I find that will be a surprise for parents compared to other schools.
Because co-curricular involvement is mandatory, I think it’s fantastic. I think my kids might have been those kids, but because it was mandatory, I think that they were pleasantly surprised, and so were we as a family, at some of the cool things they got to do. And then in the end, when they’re writing their equivalent of a résumé to get into university, they have this beautiful list of all these things they have done—whether it was the newsletter or it was organising the formals or being on the Student Council, all of these things that they had on their résumé that was just part of their everyday life there. And it was considered absolutely normal, and everyone participated.
The sports and everything have been fantastic. For us it was important because our kids weren’t super sporty and Appleby created environments where they kind of had to be sporty and they really enjoyed it. I don’t think they would have been able to do that at a regular school. I just think there were lots more opportunities and resources for them to experience, just a wider breadth of things to do.
I think what would surprise families is the sheer breadth of classes, activities, and resources that Appleby has compared to all other schools. Say you are a new student coming in: not only do you have the regular Ontario curriculum that Appleby offers, but you also have all these different streams of classes that you can take. You also have tons of extracurriculars, as well as sports teams. And then on top of that, you have service, you have new skills, you have leadership, you have your friends, and then you have outdoor education, like Temagami. It’s a lot of stuff that’s coming right at you. Better to have more choices than less.
I have three boys who have gone to Appleby. They are all such different characters, and yet all three of them found what they needed. They found something that supported their character, and exposed them to other things. Whether it be Athletics, or musicals, or Arts, they were always exposed to new things, well supported, and able to find their niche and then developed it even more.
Appleby offers a great academic program, but also a number of opportunities outside academics. There's great athletic programs, arts programs, there are service opportunities and clubs. There's really a lot of different ways that they learn, not just in the classroom, but outside of the classroom as well.
I've always had a passion for music and arts, and whether that's performing or setting up shows. Those sort of things for me are really what bring me joy, and so setting them up and then running them and performing alongside my peers and being able to sort of showcase my passion and allow others to showcase their passion, that's a really big highlight for me.
