Preschool

We offer a specialized, enhanced curriculum allowing students to often study material that is one grade ahead of their chronological grade level. Our small class ratios, high standards of academic instruction and distinct school pedagogy set the stage for your child's success. From preschool to Junior Kindergarten onwards our programming employs a strong academic and inquiry approach. At the end of Kindergarten, our program has covered the JK, SK and most of the grade one curriculum as outlined by the Ministry of Education. This forethought allows students to begin our advanced Grade 1 curriculum when they enter our grade school division. We keep in mind the Ministry of Education's outcomes while offering an enriched curriculum far exceeding public school standards and expectations.

Our age appropriate curriculum covers Language Arts and Vocabulary, Mathematics, Science and Environmental Studies, Core French, Social Studies and Communications, Computers and Technology, The Arts (visual, music and dramatic performance and dance) and Physical Education. Moreover, we offer your child an educational experience based on critical thinking, democratic citizenship and social responsibility. The early and primary years are known to be the most important years for brain wiring. Recent research in early years schooling and learning from the Fraser Institute finds that children nourished in an enriched educational environment far exceed their peer groups later on in adulthood. Giving your child exposure to our enriched preschool and primary years' educational environment, where we nurture the mind and spirit of our student's in a positive, fun and small community environment, will give your child an added advantage as they move forward in schooling. Setting up a positive attitude to learning is essential in academic success. Our curriculum is a well thought out plan with a focus on your child's creativity, intelligence and personal excellence in mind. Our school motto of nurturing the student's mind and spirit guides our approach to learning and defines our school community.

Kendellhurst Academy offers a strong French language program based on student and activity based learning opportunities. Our French curriculum is designed to stimulate an interest and desire to acquire French language.

Through guided, independent and group learning situations, students engage French language acquisition as a fun, interactive and enjoyable experience. Our program has been developed and fine tuned by an Ontario Certified French Teacher qualified in the primary and intermediate divisions.

With expertise and experience, our French language curriculum designer embraces second language acquisition as a student centered subject area, evolving curriculum with an intense focus on the needs of our students. Monthly themes guide the curriculum and expand on students' immediate and concrete worlds. Each monthly theme is broken down into weekly units. Textbook materials, reading books, cahiers, worksheets, electronically based media forms and computer technology complement our Kindergarten and grade school curriculum. Our bilingual reading program begins in grade one.

Preschool, Kindergarten and Grade One focus on whole language acquisition while Grades Two to Five go further into mastering French language with both written and spoken comprehension. Our Preschool and Kindergarten programs consist of daily French language circle activities for twenty to thirty minutes, building a repertoire of songs, vocabulary and simple conversations. Senior Kindergarten to Grade One extend curriculum and introduce pencil-to-paper activities. For Grades Two to Five, French lessons are three times a week for thirty minutes, including cahier and workbook time with a greater emphasis on oral and pencil-to-paper activities. Every day students do the weather, calendar and sing O'Canada and many French songs. High frequency items such as numbers, classroom expressions, colours and greetings are incorporated into the routine and daily activities of the classrooms. Additionally, all grades include a French language listening centre. Through vocabulary, grammatical constructs, literature and conversations, students engage French as whole language acquisition. Keeping in mind global citizenship, French society and culture are also brought into the spotlight, building a sensitivity and understanding of Francophone societies within Canada and around the world. Our French language program meets and exceeds the Ontario curriculum requirements. Our Signature Core French Program prepares your child for private or public school French immersion. Expect your child to be at the head of his/her grade one class! For more information, read about our Advanced French Program.

Kendellhurst Academy offers students many unique and hands-on projects from the classroom to the field, improving learning, understanding and application beyond traditional teaching methods. This includes special guest speakers, unique programs such as our in-class hatchery aquarium for Atlantic salmon (a locally extirpated species), field trips and much more.

Classroom Hatchery for Atlantic Salmon

(Available at our Grade School Campus, JK to Grade 8)

Hatching Atlantic salmon in the classroom is one of the unique and exciting programs Kendellhurst offers our students. In February, each of our schools receives 100 eyed salmon eggs from a provincial hatchery for our classroom hatcheries. The eggs are placed in a special hatching unit, and students monitor their development daily throughout the process.

Once the eggs hatch and the fish absorb their yolk sac, the small salmon (fry) are released into the aquarium from their hatching unit. The students continue to care for the salmon by feeding, monitoring water quality, temperature and refreshing water. In late May, after two months of feeding, the students participate in a field trip and release their fry into a local river (Credit River or Bronte Creek), so the fish may continue their life in the wild. This creates learning and memories for a lifetime.

This exciting program was developed on the East Coast of Canada, and has been brought to Ontario through the Bring Back the Salmon project led by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH). There are only 80 classroom hatcheries in Ontario, and Kendellhurst Academy's three campuses are the only private schools with the program.

Each of our schools has a special permit issued through the program from the MNR under the Endangered Species Act to raise the salmon which are a protected species in the Lake Ontario watershed.

The program provides hands-on learning that is combined with key local environmental and scientific learning outcomes. Students see firsthand why water quality is vital, the impacts of pollution, how we can improve and rehabilitate habitats and more. Atlantic salmon were once native to the Credit River, Bronte Creek and most Lake Ontario rivers. They were extirpated from the entire Lake Ontario watershed by the late 1890's due to over fishing, habitat loss and dam construction. Our students are part of a larger initiative to bring the salmon back to our local rivers and Lake Ontario.

The fry will spend the next two years in Silver Creek (where they are stocked); growing to 15-20 cm in length, at which time they will migrate down the river and out to Lake Ontario. They will grow for 1 to 5 years in the lake when they will reach maturity and return to the Credit River and Silver Creek to spawn. The fish can grow as large as 25 pounds in just five years! John Kendell (Kendellhurst Academy Co-Director/Owner) is the voluntary chairman of the Credit River Anglers Association, one of Ontario's largest conservation groups. John has been involved in restoring the Atlantic salmon and improving habitat for over 20 years in Southern Ontario, and has raised close to four million dollars in his efforts for the reforestation of nearly 400,000 trees and hundreds of rehabilitation projects! John recently received the prestigious National Recreational Fisheries Award in Ottawa from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for his conservation work.

Character Building Project

Kendellhurst Academy's character building program comes out of the virtues project. This is a cross cultural study of common virtues found in societies from around the globe. The project focuses on respect, kindness and integrity as essential in the development of progressively minded social groupings. The virtues project is a tool to foster excellence in children and ourselves.

Our teachers present the virtues within their weekly activities in a fun and approachable manner. Each classroom and teacher will take a unique approach dependent on the age and cognitive/emotive/social capabilities of the children. For example, the kindergarten teachers may present mini-lessons at circle time to encourage a better or deeper understanding of the virtue-of-the week, while the Junior Classroom teachers will simply role model the virtue. Our grade school teachers incorporate the virtues into their daily curriculum (from journal writing and cultural studies to art projects) as a holistic and infused aspect of the curriculum. There are fifty two virtues in total, allowing us to plan a week-by-week curriculum. As your child progresses through our preschool, the virtues will be repeated each year in order to reinforce and foster a deeper understanding of human goodness.

The virtue-of-the-week along with a detailed description will be posted on the parent bulletin board for you on a weekly basis. We encourage you to speak the virtues language in order to reinforce our classroom and school wide project.

Together we will build a stronger community and up-coming generations!

Paula Carrasco-Kendell, Hon. B.A., B. Ed., (OCT), M.A.T., M. Ed., School Owner-Director/Principal