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Go to child profileFor over 40 years, Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Maplewood Alternative High School have helped kids build skills and develop tools to be successful throughout their lives. We empower students by unlocking and removing obstacles to learning so that each child can experience personal growth and academic achievement. Our school specializes in educating and growing the confidence of students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities in Grades K - 12 and our approach is designed to develop the whole child.
KGMS offers bus transferring. Service options offered are regular rider, regular rider AM only, regular rider PM only, occasional rider.
The regions KGMS offers busing from are:
Covered atrium for high school students
When Anne Rushforth’s son, Kenneth Gordon, was in grade 5, she overheard his teacher introducing him to another parent as "one of her slow students.” Rushforth bristled, knowing that “he just needed a school to teach him in the way that he learned.” She said, “I decided that there needs to be a school for these children, where they’re understood.” So, in 1973, she built it, naming it after her son, and parents have been thankful to her ever since. She had been a tutor, and noted that, in that setting, often struggling students bloomed. Rushforth then applied the tutorial model to the entire breadth of the curriculum. It included multi-sensory instruction, later the Orton-Gillingham approach, and as digital tools became available, it used those, too. Students would arrive with a poor self concept, having struggled in other settings, and proceed to grow into a new sense of themselves and their capabilities. That’s what the school continues to offer today.
here on OurKids.net, is part of our series of in-depth accounts of Canada's leading private schools. Insights were gardnered by visiting the school and interviewing students, parents, faculty, and administrators.
This 50-page review of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School, published as a book and available to read in full,Read the Our Kids Featured Review of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School
Focus | Special needs |
---|---|
Academic | Special needs |
DIBELS Testing: This school periodically uses DIBELS testing to assess reading progress.
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Evolution as consensus theory | |
Evolution as one of many equally viable theories | |
Evolution is not taught |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Biology | |
Chemistry | |
Ecology | |
Geology | |
Meteorology | |
Physics | |
Physiology | |
Zoology |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Acting | |
Dance | |
Drama/Theatre | |
Graphic Design | |
Music | |
Visual Arts |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Computer science | |
Robotics | |
Web design |
Flexible pacing style | offered |
---|---|
Subject-streaming (tracking) | |
Multi-age classrooms as standard | |
Ability-grouping (in-class) as common | |
Frequent use of cyber-learning (at-their-own-pace) | |
Regular guided independent study opportunities | |
Differentiated assessment |
Full-time programming is offered for all students which is exclusively focused on one or more special needs.
Subject Type | offered |
---|---|
Learning strategy and study counselling; habit formation | |
Extra support and minor accommodations for children experiencing subclinical difficulties |
Subject Type | offered |
---|---|
Accommodations | |
Modifications | |
Extra support |
Read our guide to special needs schools and special education
Curriculum delivery: Enrichment (The main focus is on enrichment. This means that while students may work at a marginally quicker pace than public school peers, the primary aim is to study subject in broader and deeper ways.)
Program | offered |
---|---|
Custom subject enrichment (special arrangement) | |
Custom curriculum compacting (special arrangement) | |
Guided independent study (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Cyber-learning opportunities (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Formalized peer coaching opportunities (specifically for gifted learners to coach others) | |
Custom subject acceleration (special arrangement) | |
Career exploration (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Project-based learning (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Mentorships (custom gifted arrangement) |
In grade Gr. 7, KGMS students perform an average of No homework of homework per night.
K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KGMS | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins | 0 mins |
Site Average | 6 mins | 15 mins | 17 mins | 23 mins | 29 mins | 34 mins | 40 mins | 51 mins |
Lettered or numbered grades | Gr. 10 to Gr. 12 |
Prose (narrative)-based feedback | K to Gr. 9 |
Parent-teacher meetings | K to Gr. 12 |
Competitive sports: 1
Recreational sports: 2
Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School offers 7 clubs and extracurricular programs.
K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
Day | $29,900 | $30,900 |
Grade range that need-based aid is offered: | |
Percentage of grade-eligible students receiving financial aid | 0% |
Average aid package size | $0 |
Percentage of total enrolment on financial aid | 0% |
Total aid available | $0 |
Grades | Gender | Living Arrangement | Enrolment | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Group 1 | K to Gr. 12 | Coed | Day | 200 |
Total enrolment | 200 |
Average class size | 5 to 18 |
% of international students (total enrolment) | 0% |
Number of different nationalities within student population | N/A |
K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Day Enrollment | N/A | N/A | N/A | 15 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 30 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Assessment | Required | Grades |
---|---|---|
Interview | N/A | |
SSAT | N/A | |
SSAT (out of province) | N/A | |
Entrance Exam(s) | N/A | |
Entrance Essay | N/A |
Day students: Rolling
Offer mid-year entry:
Yes
Application fee: $0
Registration fee: $750
Deposit:
N/A
This is the percentage of applicants typically accepted into the school. So if 50 students are admitted out of 100 applicants, the school has an overall acceptance rate of 50%.
Average graduating class size | 15 |
Students accepted into post-secondary studies upon graduation | N/A |
Percentage of students who attend post-secondary institutions outside of Canada | N/A |
Students who attended a Ivy+ school Number of students in the past 5 years that that attended one of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, University of Chicago, Oxford or Cambridge (UK) | N/A |
Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School Graduates’ Post-Secondary Studies:
This information is not currently available.Aggregate of All Schools’ Post-Secondary Studies:
Career planning | |
Internships | N/A |
Mentorship Program | N/A |
University counseling |
Dr. Jim Christopher is the Head of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Maplewood Alternative High School in North Vancouver. A parent, author and long-time teacher, and educational administrator across Canada, he has been actively involved in the drive to differentiate learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.
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