ABOUT SUMMIT

Welcome to Summit Micro School

Preparing a community of engaged learners for continued success in the 21st century.

Summit Micro School is a private school in west Toronto with students from many corners of the city; including Etobicoke, north Toronto, downtown and around our area of Bloor West Village and Baby Point.

At Summit Micro School we believe that all students have the potential to be active, independent thinkers and learners. Confidence and motivation are the seeds of life-long learning and with these, education can be an exploration of ideas and values. Student engagement is critical to inspire students to pursue their own interests and push their personal limits of achievement. An effective education must prepare students with the skills needed for success in an ever-changing world.

At Summit Micro School we meet the changing educational demands that students face in the 21st Century with a skill-based curriculum and a strong academic foundation. We give priority to developing skills of collaboration, communication and critical thinking. While fostering a sense of global mindedness as well as self-awareness, students are given opportunities to stand in their strengths and build a personal sense of citizenship.

What is a micro school?

Depending on what part of the world they are located, Micro Schools are often independent or private schools offering an alternative to mainstream schools. Curriculum and methodologies vary school to school but the essential component is their small size. Often, the micro school model is counter to the industrial age educational model and its impersonal, standardized environment. Micro schools thrive on an approach that reaches the whole child within a community; building skills needed to adapt to today’s world and beyond. Read more here:  https://www.ourkids.net/school/micro-schools

The Story of Our School

Summit Micro School started as ‘High Park Day School’ with a vision, three students and two passionate, experienced educators. HPDS quickly became a place where kids wanted to be and were motivated to learn.

As the school grew, we expanded our goals and purpose to providing an education that will help prepare today’s youth for success and to develop the skills students need for effective learning in the “21st Century”.

Incorporating current evidence-based research we introduced Project-Based Learning as our core curriculum approach. Our programs continued to grow to include our “Maker Space” and STEM program; and a Reggio-Emilia Inspired Kindergarten program.

Doing what few schools in the city have done as an educational model, we have become leaders in many areas of progressive education. As of August 2018, High Park Day School took on its new identity as Summit Micro School. Our name is now reflective of our vision and mission to continuously push the limits of education to new heights as we move forward so that we can continue to offer our community a responsive education for our modern world.

Recommended Resources

Here are some selected resources we feel will give you a sense of our approach to education and child development.

Ken Robinson:
Changing Education Paradigms

Carol Dweck:
The Power of Believing That You Can Improve

The One World Schoolhouse, Education Reimagined by Salman Khan
Adventure: The Value of Risk in Children’s Play by Joan Almon
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Top 10 Reasons Parents Love Summit Micro School:

  1. Personalized Learning
  2. Passionate Teachers
  3. Mixed-Age Classes
  4. Innovative
  5. Critical Thinking
  6. Small Class Sizes
  7. Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking
  8. Experiential Learning
  9. Project-Based Learning
  10. Close-knit Community

Top 10 Things Summit Micro School is NOT:

  1. Desks in rows
  2. Teaching to the test
  3. One-size-fits-all
  4. Comply and Conform
  5. Huge classes
  6. Outdated curriculum
  7. Worksheets
  8. Factory schooling
  9. Standardized tests
  10. An institution