About
Education With Balance
“Education with Balance” is more than just an idea—it's the cornerstone of everything we do. Recognizing the uniqueness of every student, their distinct strengths, interests, and passions, we reject the 'one size fits all' model of education. "Education with Balance" invites students to pursue what excites them.
From taking their first step onto the soccer pitch, to passionately leading a meeting in the Social Justice Club and performing on the stage, CDS offers a rich landscape that extends far beyond traditional academics. Our community is a diverse mix of people, ideas, and opportunities designed to cultivate a sense of balance, transcending the confines of traditional academics and equipping students for life.
At the Country Day School, "Education with Balance" is not about doing everything, but about exposure to multifaceted opportunities within academics, athletics, arts, and leadership. These experiences have laid the foundation to our approach that creates adaptable, socially responsible, and successful individuals who are prepared to make meaningful contributions to society.
Find out how our unique educational philosophy can help shape your child's future. Join us at CDS to begin your journey to discovering
From taking their first step onto the soccer pitch, to passionately leading a meeting in the Social Justice Club and performing on the stage, CDS offers a rich landscape that extends far beyond traditional academics. Our community is a diverse mix of people, ideas, and opportunities designed to cultivate a sense of balance, transcending the confines of traditional academics and equipping students for life.
At the Country Day School, "Education with Balance" is not about doing everything, but about exposure to multifaceted opportunities within academics, athletics, arts, and leadership. These experiences have laid the foundation to our approach that creates adaptable, socially responsible, and successful individuals who are prepared to make meaningful contributions to society.
Find out how our unique educational philosophy can help shape your child's future. Join us at CDS to begin your journey to discovering
a life with balance for your child.
As a school of balance, we don’t operate from a “one size fits all” approach. Instead CDS differentiates instruction and seeks to meet the individual needs of each student. This approach is in everything we do. We cultivate the passion a child brings with them, or help them to discover one here.
Balance does not have to mean trying everything, but it does mean being exposed to people, ideas and opportunities across key priority areas, including:
Balance does not have to mean trying everything, but it does mean being exposed to people, ideas and opportunities across key priority areas, including:
Academically, we want our students to be open to different academic subjects and styles of learning. Our faculty are constantly checking and enhancing the curriculum – all with an eye on providing students with opportunities to achieve success.
Athletically, we embolden them to try their hand at multiple sports early on until they find those that they truly enjoy. Long-lasting values are established through team sports, including self-confidence, sportsmanship and integrity.
Artistically, we offer numerous opportunities for students to explore the arts, whether that be on the stage, in the concert hall, or at an easel. Students have many opportunities for public performance or presentation in galleries, festivals and competitions.
Environmentally, we want our students to appreciate nature and become stewards of the environment. Taking the learning outdoors with a purpose fosters environmental responsibility while also enhancing health, wellness and the capacity to learn.
OUR VISION
The Country Day School is committed to offering a superior educational experience that is sensitive to the needs of each student, enables learning and equips students for life.
When it comes to developing leadership skills, there are numerous extra-curricular opportunities at CDS and students are encouraged to participate and play a role in fine tuning everything from the activities offered, to the direction they take. Character building is an underlying theme in everything we do.
The Country Day School is a school where students are encouraged to sprint for a try on the rugby pitch; continue their pursuit of the saxophone in the Jazz Band; and lead a Social Justice Club meeting after school.
It is an exhilarating pursuit of individual interests. It is what we call education with balance. Our recent graduates articulate this philosophy beautifully in a series of video vignettes entitled Portrait of a CDS Graduate.
The Country Day School is a school where students are encouraged to sprint for a try on the rugby pitch; continue their pursuit of the saxophone in the Jazz Band; and lead a Social Justice Club meeting after school.
It is an exhilarating pursuit of individual interests. It is what we call education with balance. Our recent graduates articulate this philosophy beautifully in a series of video vignettes entitled Portrait of a CDS Graduate.
Why Co-Education Is Important
Why Co-Education is Important
The tremendous value that co-education offers is well documented: when all children are encouraged to view each other as partners in learning, play and friendship, gender stereotypes are diminished and opportunities for understanding increase.
A co-educational school embraces diversity and equality and offers a wide range of learning experiences, friendships and role models. When boys and girls learn and play together, broadening and influencing each other every day, they develop sophisticated social and emotional understanding. Developmental opportunities are not limited by gender, friends are not restricted to any particular category, and the education of the child includes recognizing others as unique individuals and rejecting stereotypical notions about what it means to be a boy or a girl.
Through the ways we educate and parent, we can encourage children to reject misleading views, broaden their peer group and play styles, deepen their learning, and pursue a variety of friendships. One of our guiding principles is to create a place where all are welcome at The Country Day School, where we believe that co-education best prepares children for their future as compassionate, productive and socially aware learners and people.
A co-educational school embraces diversity and equality and offers a wide range of learning experiences, friendships and role models. When boys and girls learn and play together, broadening and influencing each other every day, they develop sophisticated social and emotional understanding. Developmental opportunities are not limited by gender, friends are not restricted to any particular category, and the education of the child includes recognizing others as unique individuals and rejecting stereotypical notions about what it means to be a boy or a girl.
Through the ways we educate and parent, we can encourage children to reject misleading views, broaden their peer group and play styles, deepen their learning, and pursue a variety of friendships. One of our guiding principles is to create a place where all are welcome at The Country Day School, where we believe that co-education best prepares children for their future as compassionate, productive and socially aware learners and people.
Providing Education with Balance
List of 3 items.
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Challenge the Student
Challenging the student requires commitment to the development of the whole child. While the pursuit of knowledge forms the foundation of a child’s education, we believe that the cultivation of imagination, moral maturity and a love of learning is of equal importance. This is why we take a balanced approach to education, never considering the extras to be frills.
We achieve balance by pairing a solid foundation in math, science, language and social science with visual art, drama, music and a multitude of extra-curricular activities, including athletic pursuits and excursions to places near and far. We challenge our students to become well-rounded, to reach their full potential and to make a positive contribution to society. -
Develop the Mind
Developing the mind requires much more than the very best physical and technical resources. We know that these tangibles are essential, yet teaching and learning are fundamentally human endeavours. Academic skills as well as personal and social maturation are best nurtured through direct human interaction. This is why so much care is taken in selecting our teaching staff.
Our faculty is talented, committed and involved. Our exceptional team of core teachers works closely with specialist teachers in the areas of visual art, drama, music, technology, library science, and physical education to provide the very best education available to our students. -
Strengthen the Character
Strengthening the character is not achieved through one lesson, over the course of a single year, or as a result of one experience. At CDS, we understand that guiding the personal and ethical development of children takes place over the long term. This is why we expose students, at every level, to a host of formal and informal character-building experiences, commencing in Junior Kindergarten.
We recognize students’ achievements, and we redirect them when they stray off course. At CDS, students are taught to respect others and themselves. We equip our students with the tools they need to develop morally and to make sound decisions in life.
Co-Education Facts
List of 3 items.
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Academic Achievement
There is no well-designed research showing that either co-education or a single-sex education leads to improved academic performance. The reality is that students thrive in exceptional learning environments with highly qualified and committed teachers ...Large studies of students in high school mathematics classes, for example, show no gains for girls in girls-only classes or boys in boys-only classes – boys and girls in mixed-sex classes posted the same academic results. The most powerful effect on mathematical achievement, as in any other subject, is the quality of the teacher and the nature of the teacher’s expectations. A teacher’s genuine belief that all students can learn has one of the greatest effects on student achievement. -
Different Brains?
The differences between boys and girls are often overplayed in the popular media. It is more dramatic and exciting to declare that boys and girls come from different planets than to emphasize the far more numerous and significant similarities between them...The position that boys and girls are fundamentally different in terms of their learning is not supported in the best academic research, and top-notch experts who study how children learn reject the idea that boys and girls have competing needs in education.The fact is that boys and girls are far more alike than different, and differences within boy groups or girl groups are often greater than differences between boys and girls. So while we have all heard versions of the claim that boys and girls have different innate learning styles, reputable researchers tell us that there is no such thing as a brain-based need to teach girls and boys in different ways. -
Social Development
Well-established research tells us that when people are sorted into categories – by race, sex, ethnicity, or even eye or hair colour – prejudice breeds. An intergroup bias is a preference for the “in-group” over the “out-group.”When segregation by any particular trait is sustained over time, people view the members of their own group as diverse and distinct and adopt simple stereotypes about the other group: “we” are unique and complex while “they” all show unvarying traits and tendencies.A co-educational school discourages children from perceiving either boys or girls as an “out-group” lacking in individuality and value. Not only are all children treated as individuals, but no single element of a child’s identity is separated out as his or her defining feature.
Land Acknowledgment
The Country Day School wishes to recognize and acknowledge the land on which the school operates. Our nearest Indigenous Nations are now the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Chippewas of Georgina Island. The Dish with One Spoon Wampum covenant is often cited as an example of the shared responsibility for caring for these lands among the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples who would call these their traditional territories. CDS respects the relationship with these lands and recognizes that our connection to this land can be strengthened by our continued relationship with all First Nations, by acknowledging our shared responsibility to respect and care for the land and waters for future generations.
School Information
13415 Dufferin Street King, Ontario L7B 1K5
(905) 833-1220
communications@cds.on.ca
admissions@cds.on.ca
Founded in 1972, The Country Day School is a co-educational private school offering programs in JK-12 and located on 100 acres north of Toronto in King.
(905) 833-1220
communications@cds.on.ca
admissions@cds.on.ca
Founded in 1972, The Country Day School is a co-educational private school offering programs in JK-12 and located on 100 acres north of Toronto in King.
