Interview with The Country Day School PARENT, Priya Suppal

We were looking for a high school close to home, a big school, but with a very small-school feel, and a large number of extracurricular activities, not limited to sports. We wanted there to be something for everyone. I had heard about Country Day school for several years. I knew that, academically, they are very strong. I felt that CDS had a very broad academic base, as well, a novel curriculum that they were developing for high school, along with an incredible breadth of opportunities for extracurricular and travel.

I think my kids transitioned well, and I think they felt welcomed. I think there's a percentage of children who have moved up within the school, and there were certainly lots of new kids, and they had orientation for them, which was great. For the most part, my kids were keen on trying different groups and extracurriculars, so that helped them also assimilate really well. My younger son came in at Grade 6, so he was at the tail end of junior school, transitioning to middle school. My oldest son started in Grade 9, so I think that was just a big transition year for a lot of kids.

Busing was certainly an option for us and the school made that happen, even though, at the time, we were out of their catchment area. That was also very important for us in terms of choosing the school. I mean, we live in North Brampton. And there are kids that come from Vaughan, there are kids that come from Toronto, kids that come from Barrie, from Newmarket.

You're seeing kids from all backgrounds, all races, all cultures. There's a real mix of students at the school that bring different perspectives.

It's almost a must that the kids do extracurriculars, and I think that really helped them to balance. The extracurriculars are incredibly intense. During one of the play productions, they were doing comedy improv, and they had folks from Second City come and do workshops with the kids. They're band camps that they get the kids to go to in early September in preparation for the year. You had instructors from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

I think my kids would say they appreciate juggling and maintaining the balance between school work and extracurriculars, and making sure that they're learning to prioritise and fit in the time for everything. I think that they would probably say that was certainly a great benefit to them. Both of my kids are in university now. My younger one just finished first year. My older son is just completing second year med school.

I would say small class size is important, because it allows a lot of personalisation of teaching in regards to the kids needs. They may be involved in different extracurricular activities and may need a different schedule and the variety of coursework that is offered.

I would go for parent-teacher interviews and loved seeing the teachers. They were always very specific. it wasn't a generalised report, and I really truly felt that they knew my kids.

Probably for my younger one, debating and/or robotics were the most memorable activities. He's doing software engineering at Waterloo. I think that really helped to shape his career path.

My older son's in medical school, but singing is one of his passions. He was part of the choir, he was part of the jazz band, he was in drama, and any opportunity he had to sing, he would. I think they really fostered and allowed him to see that he could have a career in something other than just academics and that it could be a very fulfilling career.