A New Season to Enjoy Lakefield College School
Those of us lucky enough to work or live on the Lakefield campus during the summer months know what a treasure The Grove is during July and August. Early morning paddles, quick dips in the lake at lunch, long walks at Northcote Campus at dusk, campfires at the waterfront: it is outdoors every day at its most pleasurable.
We have had an online academy for many years, serving the needs of our students who wish to stay academically active during the summer. And for the last two years, we have had some of our incoming international students brush up on their English skills while joining us for a few weeks on campus to practice the language as they gain confidence in paddling, camping and other outdoor education skills.
This summer, we will invite our students to enjoy summertime fun on campus as we launch our in-person LCS Summer Academy and Programs. Our programs offer students an opportunity to enjoy, and be active in, the outdoors while taking part in credit and non-credit-enrichment opportunities.
Strictly optional, our new summer offerings will have many advantages for students, beyond enjoying our campus. We have designed the courses to offer students a more personalized path through their time at LCS, challenging themselves by moving ahead in courses that they enjoy or enriching their education by creating space for electives that otherwise would not fit in their timetables during the Fall/Winter/Spring academic calendar. The summer schedule is aligned with our new modular timetable, and students will be able to see how the courses they choose in July and August can open up interesting options for the academic year.
Our Summer Academy and Programs will include:
- From Seed to Table – Adventures in Eco-Farming
- Learning Languages through the Outdoors (English or French)
- LCS Dance Intensive
- Grove Prep (for Incoming Grade 9 Students)
- A Variety of On-Campus Camp/Credit Courses by Grade
- A reduced number of fully-online courses, with emphasis on our Global Online Academy (GOA) course offerings
Shifting our focus to on-campus, in-person teaching in the summer also allows us to offer educational experiences that capitalize on Lakefield College School’s signature strengths: community-minded character education and strong personal relationships between teachers and students, hands-on authentic learning experiences, and access to a rich natural environment and waterfront.
We also view the new summer program as a great opportunity to welcome our incoming students to the school a little early so that they can get oriented, acclimatize themselves to our campus and our values—and make some new friends before the term begins.
Our summer programs aren’t just about school. Depending on their course, students will have access to a wide breadth of outdoor activities as part of their program—from waterfront sports like sailing, paddling, and SUP, to campus-based activities such as beach volleyball, yoga, and tennis, to naturalist skills like birding and bee-keeping (and helping out at our vegetable garden at Northcote). Some evenings will be spent in study, but others will be opportunities to sample the many outdoor activities—theatre, music, and sports—that our local area offers.
We know that families look forward to being together in the summer, so we have created a set of offerings to suit our students’ unique needs from as few as five days on campus to four weeks and more. Several of the credit courses offered will blend remote learning (that students can do from home) with a week or two on our beautiful campus.
To discover more and register visit: lcs.on.ca/summerprograms.
We want to give our families time to think about these adventures in learning prior to choosing courses for next year. Families interested in learning more about our courses and programs should email summeracademy@lcs.on.ca