City School is located in one of the most beautiful spots in Toronto. Our classrooms look out on Lake Ontario and the downtown skyline. City is ideally located for urban "natural" study. At our doorstep, Environmental Studies classes utilize the native species garden at the Music Garden, the Toronto Islands and the Garrison Creek for field studies.
City School has a 30+ year history of being in the green vanguard. Last year City School was awarded Platinum Level Certification as an EcoSchool, the highest level of accreditation. We were one of the first TDSB schools to develop a comprehensive recycling program and now have added cell phones, batteries and printer cartridges to the package. Students have planned and planted two native species gardens on site since our move to the Waterfront and hope to utilize the constant lake breezes and openness to sunshine to develop a rooftop alternative energy project in the near future.
A SHORT HISTORY of ACTIVISM
City students spear-headed the fight to refuse corporate incursions into Toronto Board schools and to this day we are still Pepsi-free. Our students joined in the fight to stop the local bridge to the Island Airport, some staying p until one the morning to make depositions to Toronto City Council. Students have had letters to MPs read out in Parliament on climate change inaction and our next efforts will be to ban plastic water bottles from the school.
FIELD TRIPS
A key goal of City School is to connect students with the outdoors. We annually participate in the revitalization of Toronto's river valleys through plantings. Field studies in High Park and the Islands have included banding of migratory birds and sand dune and wetland rehab. Visits to the Mountain Equipment Co-op rooftop garden and the lakeshore wind turbine round out the year.
Beyond the GTA we have ventured to the wilder regions of the Niagara Escarpment and to the reconstructed native village at Crawford Lake.