The Temagami canoe trip was a trip filled with laughs, excitement, and relaxation. At first, the thought of five days with no phone was terrible, but once we realized that there is always something to do during the day we forgot all about it. For someone who has never been camping before for fear of sleeping next to a bear, I had the most memorable time and would definitely recommend the trip to anyone with a sense of adventure.

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Looking for the next good read? Interested in getting to know other CDS Parents, while discussing a great book? Whether you are an avid reader, or more of a social one - consider joining fellow parents for our next Book Review evening on Wednesday, November 22nd at 7 PM to discuss Still Life by Sarah Winman. This in-person discussion will be led by our Senior School Librarian, Melissa Rutledge. Food and beverages will be served. Please let us know if you will be joining us so that we can plan for numbers.

You may have noticed a new addition to the CDS family - our new “Safety Officer” Ms. Lacalette Mendez. This is a proactive pilot project the school is experimenting with this year. As the immediate area around the school continues to develop, along with the increased traffic and complexity of our own campus, we are adding this additional layer of support in order to help maintain the safe experience on our school property that we all enjoy.

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CDS's mascot (Storm the Cyclone) has made it to the final round of a spirit-infused contest for Top Toronto Private School Mascot and we need your votes!

The team in the Admissions Office was thrilled to welcome so many great new students to the CDS family this Fall! With our newest additions now settling in, we have turned our attention to meeting and assessing next year’s applicants.

Did you know that the CDS campus is situated on 100 acres of beautiful property, and includes approximately 2.5 km of walking trails that meander through wetlands behind the school? Fondly known as "The Back 40", this property plays an integral role in our Outdoor Ed curriculum, x-country running, snowshoeing and mountain biking programs, and our overall wellness and country feel!

Congratulations to our Grade 6 students Ben Li, Eric Huang and Emily Li who helped CDS finish first in the Mathematica Canadian National Championships for Grade 5 students last spring!

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of one of CDS's Co-Founders and loyal friends, Mr. Moffat Dunlap, at the age of 82. Moffat passed away yesterday, September 11th, after a 20-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

The look of wonderment and amazement on the faces of Junior School parents and returning students as they arrived through the new entrance yesterday and witnessed the magic within exceeded our wildest dreams! It was never supposed to take as long as it did, but boy oh boy was it worth the wait.

Over the last year, Generative AI has had a significant, almost immediate, impact upon so many facets of our lives - personal, social, cultural and professional. The arena of education is no different in this regard. Like other technological milestones - there are some of us still around who are old enough to remember the rapid integration of the internet into education in the 1990s - generative AI, undoubtedly, will have a transformative effect on teaching and learning in the years to come.

A guiding principle of our school is to develop global understanding. We are excited to share that CDS will be travelling to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands during the 2024 March Break. We are currently scheduled to depart on March 7th and return on March 17th. The trip is organized and facilitated by Georgia Hardy Tours in consultation with military historian (and retired CAIS teacher) Dr. Eric McGeer and intended for students in Grades 10-12 with a keen interest in history.

One of the many campus projects this summer has been the installation of new seats in the Paul C. Duckett Theatre!

Have you viewed our latest Portrait of a Graduate video series yet?

During the first few weeks of summer, we had an opportunity to sit down with recent graduates Tanysa Bobechko, Ali Khan, Olivia Gater and Fateh Nijjar to discuss their individual CDS journeys.

We invite all students, parents, faculty and staff to the return of our Annual Welcome Back BBQ on Wednesday, September 6th from 2:30 PM to 4 PM at Hawksworth Field.

Everyone in the family is welcome. Complimentary food and refreshments.

Rain or shine. Parking available in either the Junior or Senior School lot. If you have any questions, please contact events@cds.on.ca.

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of one of CDS’s most loyal supporters and friends, Mr. Michael Burns, at the age of 85.

It is with a lot of excitement that the Grade 1 students presented the French play "La poule Maboule" and the Grade 2 students did "Les trois petits cochons" last week in front of their loved ones.

Summer is almost here and the pile of books I want to read keeps getting higher!  We hope you are looking forward to reading some new books or revisiting some old favourites yourselves this summer.  Check out this 2023 SUMMER READING GUIDE to get you started!

If we were to encourage our children to do just one thing that would contribute to their future success in life, it would be to read more. Among other things, reading increases our vocabulary, develops analytical thinking skills, reduces stress, teaches empathy, and enlightens us about the world we live in.

Although they will be Cyclones forever, we are excited that our grads are about to become Mustangs, Bobcats, Beavers, Hawks, Knights and Thunderbirds at wonderful colleges and universities across Canada and beyond.

Aidan Quast ‘26, Carter Saley ‘26 and Hannah Clarke ‘23 traveled to Ottawa last Wednesday to compete at the 2023 Track & Field Championships. This would be Aidan and Carter’s first experience at OFSAA and Hannah’s last competition as a high school athlete.  Needless to say, their emotions spanned from excitement and eagerness to restlessness and nervousness.

Last Friday evening, our community came together to Celebrate 50 Years of CDS at the 47th Annual Dinner and Auction!  Fifty years is a huge milestone for the school and what better way to finish off the celebration year than a party!

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Yesterday morning, our GYs and their parents honoured what has become an annual CDS tradition of being “walked to school” one final time for the annual Grad Breakfast. Everyone enjoyed gathering for some great conversations and photo-ops with faculty members and friends in advance of the end-of-year Middle/Senior School Assembly.

Be sure and stop by the CDS tents at the Aurora Street Festival this Sunday, June 4!

A few weeks ago, Rayna Zhou ‘23 and Zhi Wei Zhang ‘25 won a first-ever OFSAA medal in Badminton for CDS in mixed doubles at Trinity College School in Port Hope. Over the three days of play, they only lost once on the first day, placing them in the B main draw. The dynamic duo went on to win all of their remaining matches and advanced to compete in the B finals. They finished with an OFSAA Silver medal, which is an impressive accomplishment when competing against the best in Ontario with national and internationally ranked opponents.

Inclusivity Club used the month of May to raise awareness for Pride Month in June when we celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community, and at the same time acknowledge the hardships it has endured throughout history.

On Monday, we recognized our student athletes and celebrated all three terms of athletics at the MS/SS Spring Athletics Assembly. Individual team awards, major athletic recognitions, and CISAA plaques were presented with sports commentary provided by our co-anchors: Luke Shipley, Bronwyn Schemmer, Mia Sung and Hannah Clarke.

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On Wednesday April 5th, a group of 2 Middle School and 21 Senior School students rose to the challenge of writing the annual Fryer, Galois, and Hypatia mathematics contests. These contests are 75 minutes in length and involve solving four problems that build towards a more complex task to solve in each question.

On May 17th, all of the Middle School students at CDS had the opportunity to participate in this year’s Gauss Mathematics contest. The contest consists of 25 multiple choice questions with topics chosen from the Grade 7 and Grade 8 mathematics curriculum.

In honour of our 50th anniversary, we thought that it would be fitting to invite our Alumni back to join our Middle and Senior Music students on stage for the spring concert. The call went out, not simply to watch but to participate, and as responses came in from near and far, we were thrilled when more than 50 alumni answered the call to participate in the concert!

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Grad X is the Grade 12 Art Exhibition, held from May 25 through June 9, in celebration of the culminating year of students in the visual arts program. The show is a collaboration of art works created by the Grade 12 art class and provides them with an opportunity to display their works to the public within the school gallery space.

View the Grad X Booklet

What a fantastic turnout for the Parent Association AGM and Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast this week! And it was wonderful to see so many men in attendance. Shoutout to Eric Selvaggi '10, a member of our Alumni Executive for wearing his CDS socks! 

The National Junior High Public Speaking and Debating Tournament took place on May 5th and 6th at The Mulgrave School in West Vancouver. Ananya Kapur ‘26 and Audrey Jiang ‘26 participated in preliminary asynchronous rounds prior to the tournament for Persuasive Speaking and Interpretive Reading, while Parliamentary Debate and Impromptu Speaking preliminary rounds were held live.

We are pleased to announce the return of the CDS Annual Golf Tournament on Thursday, August 17th at Cardinal Golf Club in Newmarket (Davis Drive and Hwy 400).

Sponsorship and Golf Registration is now open.

Last Friday, the Junior School’s Grade 6 Pathways to People leaders organized and facilitated a Strides for Sun Safety Walk. This walk involved all of the students and faculty of the Junior School. Students and teachers wore blue clothing and donated a toonie to the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund. Pathways members led each JS class through the five S’s of Sun Safety: Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide!

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Last month, Grade 10 students Jack Brown and Zak Khan attended the Duke of Edinburgh Youth Summit in Toronto with other students working on their Award from across the GTA. There they had an opportunity to meet both HRH Prince Edward, the new Duke of Edinburgh, and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Elizabeth Dowdeswell. Students had an opportunity to speak with Prince Edward and the Ltd. Governor about how the Award has positively impacted their lives and motivational speaker and Award Achiever, Fahd Alhattab, led them through a design-think workshop where ideas and opinions related to the future of the Award in Canada were discussed.

Last month, a group of six Grade 9, 10, and 11 students went to Pickering College for the University of Waterloo’s Math Team competition. The competitors were Stone Li, Kevin Yang, Kate Sha, Carolyn Du, Miranda Hong, and Lisa Wang.

Students in Grade 5 have been busy advocating for their communities over the last three months. As part of our Government and Citizenship unit, students identified areas and issues in their communities that could be improved and then wrote to their mayors.

Last week, Grade 5 student Nicholas Han and Grade 6 student Charlize Bianchi received the exciting news that they had tied for first place, both earning a perfect score in the Caribou Mathematics Competition! This worldwide online contest takes place in November, January, February, April and May. Each time, six contests are offered, one for each of the grade levels 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 and 11/12 and each one in English, French, Persian and Mandarin.

Last week, Carolyn Du ‘24 spoke at Assembly about the Diversity Club’s plans to help honour Asian Heritage Month throughout the month of May. For starters, Zak Khan ‘25 and Aidan Scholten ‘25 helped create an Asian language version of O Canada consisting of four different languages - Punjabi, Mandarin, Tamil, and Tagalog.

Junior School held its 13th annual Public Speaking Competition last Friday for students in Grades 5 and 6. Two contest finalists were selected from each Grade 5 and 6 classroom to speak at the competition. The speakers came poised and prepared to share their original speeches with parents, judges, and students from Grades 4-6.

On April 17-19, the Senior Drama Class traveled to Stratford, Ont. to perform and participate in the Conference of Independent Schools Drama Festival (CISDF). It was three days of getting to know ourselves better, each other, and making new fun and talented friends.

The theme of Monday’s Middle/Senior Assembly this week was final exam preparation. Exam schedules and rules were shared with Middle and Senior School students on Tuesday during homeroom.

Growing up, Grade 11 student Seth Train heard stories firsthand from his grandparents and older sister Rebecca ’19 about the annual March of the Living, a two-week educational experience held in Poland and Israel. For the past three years the program was cancelled due to COVID and then the war in Ukraine, so for Seth it was especially meaningful that he was able to participate over the past two weeks in this life-changing family tradition.

Last Saturday, the third and final Fulford League Debate tournament of the year took place at Villanova College. Ananya Kapur ‘26 and Olivia Budweth ‘25 competed as the Junior team while Sarah Croxon ‘24 and Jack Brown ‘25 competed as the Senior team.

On February 15th, we had 20 students in Grades 11 & 12 participate in the Canadian Computing Competition. Students had 3 hours to complete 5 computer programs that solve real world problems.

After four lengthy years, this much-anticipated student music festival made its long-awaited return on April 15th with splendid flourish. As a tenor saxophone player in the CISMF symphonic band, I was drawn like a moth to a flame by the allure of it all.

Last Friday, The Country Day School music department hosted their first Senior Vocal Recital. Students in the Grade 11 & 12 Vocal Program have been working throughout the year to prepare for this exciting Independent Study Unit.

The Grade 6s are excitedly getting ready for their annual speech competition and what better way to prepare than to get input from the best of the best.

During the week of April 11-14, our Junior School celebrated La semaine du français (French week) for the first time ever. The main goal of this week was to show our students that the French language is all around us.

A major part of the Grade 12 World Cultures course is a social action project where students identify an area of equity, social justice or cultural diversity in which they are passionate. Abbey Butler ’23 chose to address the global and local issue of period poverty, and launched the Period Project at this week’s Assembly.

Join us Monday, May 8th at 7pm for a free screening of Delaney Ruston's third and latest film Screenagers Under the Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol in the Digital Age followed by a Q&A discussion.

This past week, CDS Senior School students were given an extraordinary opportunity through the school’s Health Sciences Club to participate in a Canadian healthcare initiative led by SickKids known as CALIPER. This project was created to establish a database of normal blood test values in children. Previously, there had been a gap in this knowledge, leading to the use of adult reference values in diagnosing children, making evaluating sick children less efficient and more inaccurate. Seventy-three CDS students stepped forward to donate their blood for this wonderful cause.

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For the first time ever at CDS, Junior, Middle, and Senior School students all celebrated Language Week from April 11-14. The overarching goal of this annual celebration is to teach students to appreciate and respect the many cultures where French and Spanish are spoken.

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On April 3 and 4, the Judges’ Cup was held in the court chambers of the Newmarket Courthouse. The Judges’ Cup is the largest tournament in the province and the only to be heard by actual judges in a working courthouse. The cases are developed by the Ontario Justice Education Network and are tried by students in tournaments across the province. The experience is nerve-wracking and exhilarating for the participants. There were 24 York Region schools competing in the Judges’ Cup and CDS went to trial on the second day of the tournament.

In recognition of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 17-18, Middle and Senior School students participated in a live Zoom presentation today featuring 83-year-old Holocaust Survivor, Eva Meisels, from the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre.

The Country Day School Parent Association and The Office of Community Relations invite you to join us for the Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast and Parent Association AGM on Wednesday, May 24th at 9 AM in the Di Ciano Atrium. 

Please RSVP no later than Wednesday, May 10th.

This month, Grade 10 students have met with WWII veterans to hear their stories. Veteran Jim Parks (see picture) visited Mr. Downer’s Grade 10 history class to share his experience as a soldier in World War Two. Parks, a member of the Winnipeg Rifles, was among the first wave of Canadian soldiers to land at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, two minutes before the main assault wave hit. We are very grateful to have welcomed Mr. Parks to our campus.

Students in the Gr. 12 Environment and Resource Management course have worked in small groups to purchase a mine site and pay a reclamation bond. They mined their site over a series of 15 "years" making choices about exploration, investment in equipment, and the management of tailings, water sources, wildlife, and human settlement. They kept detailed accounting sheets which allowed them to chart profitability of their mine over time, explore the effectiveness of their investments, and examine how they used other resources once the most valuable minerals were depleted. Fines were issued for environmental damage and human rights violations. In the end, all mines turned a profit, all waterways were irreparably damaged, several fines were issued, and most sites were reclaimed effectively.

Earlier this month, Grade 12 Biology students traveled to Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto. Students toured the aquarium and participated in a classroom workshop to dissect squid. In the workshop, students learned about squid anatomy and honed their dissection skills.

Looking for the next good read? Interested in getting to know other CDS Parents, while discussing a great book? Why not join us for a light dinner and book review on Tuesday, May 16th at 7 PM to discuss Maame by Jessica George. This in-person discussion will be led by our Senior School Librarian, Melissa Rutledge.

What is the Dinner & Auction? The CDS Dinner & Auction is the school's largest parent social event of the year, as well as the school's largest fundraising event. Currently in its 47th year, the Auction has raised in excess of $6 million dollars. These funds go toward capital improvement projects, such as the traffic light on Dufferin Street, athletic scoreboards and  seating beside the Track (Hawksworth Field). This year the money will go toward the Junior School Building Magic Campaign.

Excitement filled the air as children's author, Catherine Nevin-Pike, arrived to visit our Junior & Senior Kindergarten students last week to share her new book, Snowy Prints. In the story, a child and his mother go for a snowy adventure walk, prompting our students to have fun predicting what kind of animal made each set of tracks they encountered along the way.

During the March break, 75 of our Senior School students took part in a Social Sciences trip to Italy for 10 days accompanied by nine faculty members. Due to a huge desire to travel once again and the popularity of the destination, there were two groups: a Grade 11-12 group and a Grade 10 group following a very similar and very full itinerary, just a few days behind. From Sorrento, to the island of Capri, Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, Monte Cassino and Rome, San Gimignano and Florence, and last but not least, Venice. This trip was filled with learning opportunities about European history and art landmark visitations, as well as gelato tasting.

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Last Saturday, Ananya Kapur ‘26 and Audrey Jiang ‘26 participated in the Ontario Junior Provincial Qualifier for the National Public Speaking and Debate Championships held at the Bishop Strachan School.

A major part of the Grade 12 World Cultures course each spring is a social action project where students identify an area of equity, social justice or cultural diversity in which they are interested. They research their topic and develop a plan for an initiative that would foster change in their area. The students not only develop critical thinking and organizational skills, but emerge with a feeling that they have helped promote positive change no matter how big or small.

The 35th World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships (WIDPSC) were held at Clifton School in Durban, South Africa, from March 26 - April 2. This was the first in-person World's tournament in four years.

Following on the heels of a successful but shortened 2022 snowboard season, The Country Day School snowboard team made the most of their momentum to find even more success this year. Our first complete season in three years, consisting of two on hill training days, five CISAA events, OFSAA, and a provincial snowboard cross invitational, this winter was another one for the history books.

Each spring, The Country Day School hosts Junior School Grandparents' Day. This is a special day at the School for staff, students and grandparents alike! Our very special visitors enjoy classroom visits, lunch and a musical performance by the students of the Junior School.

Our Senior School Health Sciences Club has partnered with SickKids hospital to offer an amazing opportunity for Senior School students to help sick children. The CALIPER project is an initiative led by SickKids that aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of medical conditions by creating an up-to-date database of normal blood values.

This year marks the 16th year in a row that The Country Day School has had students qualify to compete in the prestigious World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, this year being held at The Clifton School in Durban, South Africa from March 27- April 1, 2023.

It was so great to enjoy a Family Day weekend in British Columbia and make time to host two 50th Anniversary events where alumni, past faculty and past parents revisited their CDS connections.

At Tuesday’s JS Athletic Assembly, our emcees were Grade 6 students Mina and Massimo, who were joined by CDS Athletic Director, Mr. Andersen, to help share the accomplishments and highlights from the season.

At Monday’s MS/SS Athletic Assembly, emcees Luke Shipley ’23 and Bronwyn Schemmer ’23 were joined by CDS Athletic Director Mr. Andersen and speakers from each team at the “CDS Sports Desk” to hear the accomplishments and highlights from the season.

This weekend, the Senior School Robotics Team is headed to our first tournament of the new season! Our team is very excited and has been working hard to prepare the robot for the upcoming competition. Each team has an assigned ID number - our team is Team 4951 - CDS Cyclones! Where we usually have to travel further afield, this time we will be competing in Newmarket - and encourage community members to come watch throughout the weekend!

This week, the Grade 6s explored the wonders of electricity with Scientists in School. They learned more about different types of circuits, conductors and insulators, as well as the benefits of different types of switches. They also experimented with static electricity and electromagnets.

Next Thursday, March 9th, there will be an opening reception for the Mayor’s Celebration of Youth Arts at the King Township Municipal Offices from from 6-8 PM featuring artwork by Senior School artists at CDS, King City Secondary School and Villanova College. 

Join us Friday, April 21st at 9 AM for an interactive talk with Sarah Hepburn, a writer, storyteller, and consultant. Sarah will share the process she has used and chronicled in her new book, Walking Forward, to navigate the chaos of life using habits as a tool. She will also share ways to get clear on what you want and how you can incorporate habits to move you forward in life.

Due to the most recent snowfall, we had to cancel our Book Review scheduled for last night. As we don’t want to miss out on discussing Remarkably Bright Creatures, we’ve decided to reschedule and add another book to the roster in the meantime. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus comes highly recommended for you to enjoy between now and the first week back from March Break. We plan to gather to discuss both books on Wednesday, March 29th at 7:00 pm in the Senior School Library … a double header of sorts!

Earlier this month, the Senior School Robotics team conducted a community outreach event. The objective of the program was to inspire and educate Junior School students about the exciting world of robotics and encourage them to pursue careers in STEM.

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The Senior School Vocal Music students recently had the privilege of working with professional singer and content creator, Nicholas Higgs. During the afternoon of workshops, students learned new techniques while being coached on their solo repertoire.

This week, CDS welcomed Steevens Audige, a police officer and former pastor to our Middle/Senior School Assembly.

Earlier this week, 33 CDS DECA students were among the top regional competitors presenting case studies or prepared projects in the areas of business, finance, sports marketing, hospitality and tourism, entrepreneurship and much more. In total, 5729 student competitors from 230 schools across Ontario converged at the Sheraton in Toronto where they challenged one another in a wide range of business disciplines for a chance to earn a spot to the International Career Development Conference in Orlando, FL in April.

A major part of CDS’s Grade 12 World Cultures course is a social action project where students are asked to identify, plan and carry out solutions to problems within their school, community, province, nation, or beyond. The goal of the project is to display active citizenship through thoughtful, cooperative, critically engaging, and responsible action. The students not only develop critical thinking and organizational skills, but they hopefully emerge with a feeling that they have helped promote positive change no matter how big or small.

The 2023 National Public Speaking Championships took place at St. John's-Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg last weekend. Sarah Croxon ‘24 and Diviya Amarnath ‘25 competed in this tournament after qualifying at the 2022 Ontario Qualifiers in early December.

After a three-year hiatus, we are thrilled to announce the return of The Country Day School’s Annual Dinner & Auction on Friday, June 2, 2023! This is an evening you won’t want to miss as we come together as a community to celebrate our school’s 50th anniversary in the transformed Cyclone Dome.

Based on the Roald Dahl children's book, Matilda the Musical is the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to take a stand and change her own destiny.

Purchase Your Tickets

Last week, the Grade 10 and 11 French classes travelled to Saint-Donat, Quebec, for an action-packed trip filled with winter sports, outdoor activities, evening shows, and beaucoup de français.

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CDS Summer Camp is back for six weeks from June 19-July 28 and the 2023 offerings present a winning combination of old and new. Registration is now open at www.cds.on.ca/summercamp and early bird rates are available through March 31st. We are looking forward to a great summer!

Ms. Jo-Anne Kuchmak had her students artwork out on full display for last week’s Open House and her classroom looked like a mini art museum! We encourage you to take the time to read the following descriptions and peruse the galleries to see what our budding artists have been up to as of late.

In the spirit of the New Year, our Executive Chef Richard Perks has shared five new recipes that have proven quite popular among our students and faculty/staff. We hope you enjoy them!

Last week, the Grade 11 History and Senior Drama classes participated in a stage combat workshop. The workshop, run by Daniel Levison and his assistant Michelle, utilized historically accurate weaponry and allowed students to create theatrical fighting sequences. Students were able to try on armour replicated from Roman soldiers and equipped with swords and shields previously used in the shooting of the movie Pompeii (2014), and reflected on the combat of ancient times, and challenged their physicality while building combat sequences.

Last November, we had 32 motivated students rise to the challenge of competing in either the Canadian Senior Mathematics Competition (CSMC) or the Canadian Intermediate Math Competition (CIMC). These are 2-hour contests requiring full solutions that provide students with opportunities to demonstrate an excellent knowledge of various mathematical topics.

The Grade 11 Visual Arts students are exhibiting oil paintings in the Mantella Atrium this month.

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Looking for the next good read? Interested in getting to know other CDS Parents while discussing a great book? Whether you are an avid reader, or just looking to curl up on a Sunday afternoon for a little escape, we encourage you to try this highly recommended book and join us for our next in-person gathering on Wednesday, February 22nd at 7 PM to discuss it.

CDS Summer School Registration opens on Monday, January 23, 2023. Courses can fill up quickly!