East Alternative School of Toronto's Mission Statement
EAST Alternative School is a fully public alternative school within the Toronto District School Board. We are a small, grade 7/8 school of 68 students and 2.5 teachers. We are housed at Blake Street PS, located at 21 Boultbee Avenue near the intersection of Jones and Gerrard. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, safe, engaged, and compassionate community, where students are socially minded critical thinkers, who advocate and work towards a just and sustainable society.
The Application Process
Thank you for your interest in EAST. Our Virtual Open House will take place in January The link to the online application will be made available in the New Year. Applications are due February 11,2022,12:00 PM. As part of the Board’s strategic efforts and commitments to advance equity and inclusion, and ensure non-discrimination, EAST participates in a pilot admission process that allows for priority entry for members of diverse communities, which would account for at least 25% of all grade 7 admissions.
You can access last year's Open House slide show presentation by checking out the link below:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dd1KiMurkk6m9kaZn4a8sNE85YOdELBZ-TETvtaoa0I/edit?usp=sharing
More Information About East Alternative School of Toronto
Social justice, Citizenship and Sustainability
EAST curriculum is scaffolded as a two year program to support a layered understanding of equity and social justice. Within this two year program, students are exposed to current and historical issues relating to equity, and are taught to become critical thinkers who assess and evaluate topics for bias, power and privilege, and representation.
Arts Integration
Based on the premise that all students are creative and learn through an exploration of their creativity, students will engage in a variety of art activities, including drama, music and visual arts. All learning includes an arts based component.
Inquiry Based Curriculum
We are committed to the process of inquiry, a process that encourages students to discover and explore, to engage in rich and personally relevant learning, and to think through problems and questions to uncover their own solutions. We encourage students to be active and creative problem solvers and deep thinkers, and to come up with their own conclusions.
Active Parent Involvement
Since EAST's creation in 1996, parents and guardians have worked successfully in partnership with the school staff to make EAST a viable and vibrant learning environment. In fact, parents are essential in supporting many school activities, programmes and services. EAST strongly encourages and relies on parental involvement.
Additional Features
- Weekly Advisory
- Annual Trip to Camp Kawartha
- Friday Community Lunch
- Trip to Montreal -every other year
- Bi Weekly Pizza Lunch
- Equity Based Library Collection
Student Life - Where You Belong
GO TEAM
Through weekly advisory community circles, placemat lunches that encourages eating with different students every day, and overnight field trips, students come to know one another closely. Students worked together frequently, and realize that they have much to learn from one another, that mistakes are an important part of the learning process, and that their voices and ideas are important in moving the learning of the community along.
There are many opportunities for student involvement; including : student council, student developed extra curricular activities, Eco Club, Social Committee, Social Activism Club, and Mindfullness.
WHAT SETS US APART
Examples of our creative and engaging learning projects:
-Confederacy Debates
-Cell as a Metaphor
-Identity Project
-Spoken Word
-Voices Project
-Sustainable Ecosystems
-Math as Art
-Underwear Project
-Conceptual Art Novel Groups
PARENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Parents play a vital role in our school community. Volunteer roles include executive council members (communication, finance, volunteer coordinator, pizza lunch). Parents are strongly encouraged to attend our regularly scheduled PTA meetings; our twice annual pot luck dinners, and our evening performances to celebrate the learning and achievements of the student community.
Parent volunteers are also requested to support: field trips, novel groups, large projects, transition to high, school career days.
EAST is housed in Blake Street PS, and we work closely in partnership with them to support our local community. Students are actively involved in supporting struggling readers, planning and hosting school wide assemblies and initiatives, volunteering for the annual Clothing Swap, fundraising for We School initiatives and other programs.