REVIEW OF Fieldstone School BY Alum, Abigail Lewis

(5) Overall Experience

My experience at Fieldstone King’s College School has been a enriching one that has pushed me to reach my potential through the extracurricular activities and through the challenging Cambridge curriculum. Through my years at Fieldstone, I was involved in the DECA club, the drama club, the knitting club, the dance club, choir and United Nations club. These extracurriculars taught me public speaking, rhetoric, leadership and empathy. I am grateful that Fieldstone gave me the opportunity to take the Cambridge English, French and Drama exams, which provided me with a more specialized education. The teachers are all caring and genuinely want to help the students. The smaller class sizes really help with creating a relationship with the teachers, which makes you more comfortable to approach them with questions or for feedback. I feel more confident in my success at the University of Toronto because of my Fieldstone education.

(4.5) School Leadership

In my experience at Fieldstone, administration staff is respected because they respect the student. Whenever there is a problem, it is dealt with swiftly and taken very seriously. They have a lot of compassion and that helps to create a very positive environment at school. They are not overly harsh in their punishments and effectively communicate solutions. They make the students feel like they are well-cared for and are given a proper chance at a wonderful education.

(5) Teaching

The teaching at Fieldstone is truly extraordinary. I value the years I have spent with such spectacular teachers who took the time to make sure no one was falling behind. They were all friendly and clearly passionate about their work. The teachers could be approached with any question and it would be met with kindness and understanding. The class sizes are on the smaller side, which allows for students to not be left behind and gives them all a chance to get a good mark. The attentiveness of the teachers truly makes a difference in the educational experience. The teachers were highly respected and took the time to remember everyone's name, even if you were not in their class. I, to this day, value the experience that the teachers at Fieldstone gave me. The knowledge that they imparted have helped me to succeed in university.

(5) Academics

One of the strengths at Fieldstone is the Cambridge program. It is how the school encourages its students to strive for better and gives them the opportunity to challenge themselves. This program gives the students a chance to focus on the subjects that they see themselves pursuing in post-secondary, and that they are interested in. There are also regular tutorials that students are encouraged to attend whether they need extra help or if they would like to ensure a better grade on an assignment. In grade 12, there was a program to help teach all the students in their final year how to read a journal. This was really informative because in university, we have a lot of readings from academic papers, such as journals.

(4.5) Extracurriculars

When I was at Fieldstone, I prided myself in participating in many extracurriculars. Luckily for me, Fieldstone was well-equipped with various clubs and sports, plus there was the opportunity to create clubs of your own. There was the drama club, which did two shows a year, choir, knitting, world affairs, DECA, basketball and so much more. These experiences really enriched my time at Fieldstone.

(3.5) Students

With any school, it is always a mixed bag of students, but at Fieldstone, everyone is respectful and usually eager to learn. Thankfully, Fieldstone has a wide range of extracurricular activities, so there is always the opportunity to meet others in different grades and find a place where you belong. The school was free from catty or bullying behavior and the school encouraged a positive environment. Since most of the class sizes were quite small, it gave everyone the opportunity to get to know others. In Fieldstone King's College School, most of the students were from countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico, so it was wonderful to get to learn about other cultures and Fieldstone encouraged that by having a Cultural Afternoon where everyone would bring dishes from their country and it would be shared amongst everyone.

(4) School Life

I enjoyed my time at Fieldstone overall. Everyone at Fieldstone seemed generally happy to be there and Fieldstone took good care of the students. They tried their best to make sure students were not too stressed and directed them to many healthy outlets. The teachers were always there if extra help was needed. Students seemed to really appreciate that. The teachers were very passionate about their careers and their subjects, which encouraged students to care more about what they were learning and it made it a great deal more fun. Teachers worked to reach out to students who seemed to be struggling emotionally or academically, which contributed to a happy student body that trusted the staff there. Fieldstone truly worked hard to cultivate a great student life for all of its students.

(4) Community

What stands out to me is how willing Fieldstone is about maintaining bonds within and outside of the community. I have been invited to participate in many activities, as an alumni, such as judging a business competition. I have also been invited to a lunch at Fieldstone. Since my time at Fieldstone, I keep in contact with a couple of my friends, many of which are currently scattered around the globe. This has proven very beneficial because I now have friends around the world. Fieldstone has really encouraged keeping ties with their alumni and have them feel included with the school. That is so wonderful because I get to see many of the teachers and administrators from my time there and that is always such a wonderful experience.

(4.5) School Location

The location of the school is really wonderful because there are many great places to get lunch and it did not make you feel isolated. They are close to a lovely mall and a couple of wonderful plazas, as well as a large residential area, so it is a very quiet neighbourhood. There are other schools in the area and the school is very close to transportation that can take you directly to the subway.

(4.5) Admissions

When I did my admissions, I was eleven. My advice to someone that is applying is to not freak out because it is a very calm process. It is also good to maintain an open mind and show that you care deeply about your education and that you have passions outside of that. Remain courteous and respectful. My experience with applying for admission was very relaxed because the admissions officers worked with me a lot to find out if I was a good fit for the school. They gave me the opportunity to express myself and I was given a wonderful tour of the school. I will always remember how welcomed they made me feel and how they helped me to understand more about the school.

(5) University placement and counselling

I found that Fieldstone offered a great deal of support for all of its students. The guidance counsellor was very kind, resourceful and easy to talk to. I remember one specific incident where I was in a complete panic in grade twelve and emailed the guidance counsellor to talk about it. She replied promptly and gave me the information that I needed to approach the problem with more knowledge. The counsellor was also very good at making sure that you knew all of your options for post-secondary and that you were as prepared as possible prior to the beginning of the process. I felt greatly supported by the counselling at Fieldstone and I had a lot of trust in the staff there because they were patient, knowledgeable and eager to help.