Into the Future and Back to the Land

For years, students at Lakefield College School have found themselves outdoors nearly every day in the school’s 315-acre waterfront setting on the edge of the rugged Canadian Shield. It’s a way of life at LCS, part of the philosophy of “healthy body, healthy mind” that the school has always endorsed and a natural byproduct of its surrounding lake, fields and forests. Today, it has even been elevated to strategy and lives within the school’s plan under its Outdoors Every Day pillar. This passion for the environment as, at once, an outdoor classroom and a fountainhead of mental and physical health is now taking a more intentional focus encompassing sustainability and environmental responsibility. Front and centre is a separate 160-acre property, Northcote Campus, where students will learn about regenerative farming, entrepreneurship and culinary skills through an immersive, authentic experience. Supporting the farm campus and its mission is a matrix of new…

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Learning, Recovery, and Renewal for High School Students

By Assistant Head: Academics Dean VanDoleweerd Earlier this fall, LCS parents were invited to Lakefield College School for small group tours and to hear about some of our new program innovations. During a presentation about our academic program, a parent asked what we were doing to deal with the “learning loss” resulting from the pandemic. In a McKinsey article (“COVID 19 and Education: The Lingering Effects of Unfinished Learning”), learning is discussed in broad terms and they state, ”students could lose as much as five to ten months of learning in mathematics, and about half of that in reading.”  A lot has been written about what students have and have not learned under the circumstances of their unique situations. Much of the focus in these articles has been placed on young learners, and the establishment of fundamental skills in literacy and numeracy. The picture is even more varied for teenagers…

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Dressed for Success | LCS Uniforms Designed for Active, Engaged Learning

Before students arrive at Lakefield College School, they may have some preconceived notions about what an independent school uniform looks like. From movies to TV shows, there are countless popular culture representations of private school dress. For many years, independent schools across the country–including Lakefield College School–adopted a standard uniform comprised of slacks and a button-down for boys and a skirt or slacks with a blouse for girls. Though this uniform may have served a purpose at some point in time, in 2018, LCS began a process to review classroom dress with a survey of students and faculty to gauge what changes they would like to see. By spring of 2019, the school had struck a student-faculty team who worked collaboratively to identify a dress standard that would be more in line with our authentic learning and outdoors every day strategic priorities, that would promote choice regardless of gender and…

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