Prior to this, students between the ages of 2 and 15 go through a broad bilingual program covering the arts, languages, natural and social sciences as well as mathematics.
The school offers numerous side programs that focus on aiding students in expanding to an international level, including an optional SAT preparation course.
[2] When they issued the articles of incorporation for the non-profit school, they had the objective of educating students to become fully bilingual Canadians.
This would later prove to be a significant factor in distinguishing TFS from other private schools of the Canadian establishment, such as UCC and Havergal.
[3] In 1980, the school acquired 318 Lawrence Avenue, the former Sifton Manor, and made the 26-acre (110,000 m2) plot of land its new primary location.
In 1984, the board of directors included Liberal politician Jean Chrétien (later Prime Minister of Canada), and a patron's council was created with such prominent names as Bata, Black, Labat, and Eaton.
[8] Recent TFS parents include the film director Atom Egoyan and his actor wife Arsinée Khanjian, the journalist Jan Wong, the Ontario Court of Appeal judge John Laskin, Dr. Ann Kaplan Mulholland (star of The Real Housewives of Toronto), and the former city councilor Tom Jakobek.
They were: Although TFS facilities were scattered in different areas, by the mid-eighties, the school had condensed to two locations, one in Toronto (Bayview and Lawrence) and one in Mississauga (1293 Meredith Avenue – south of The Queensway between Dixie and Cawthra - former Lakeview Central/Neil C. Mathewson Junior Public School c. 1950 and Petrescue Community Centre 1973-1995).
The Toronto location acquired the old Sifton Estate (Armadale),[9] a group of three patrician Tudor-revival/Dutch Colonial Revival architecture brick buildings on nearly 23 acres.
The Sifton mansion, now called Giles Hall, is the main building of TFS's senior school.
The approximate surface area of the field is 48,000 square feet (4,500 m2) of astroturf, completely encircled with a combination of stone and metal fencing.
All students from grade 2 to Level V were for the first time granted access to the field as parents and teachers alike photographed the event.
All students study the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programme during Grades Eleven and Twelve (Levels IV and V).
From Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5, students attend the Junior School program at either TFS's Toronto or Mississauga Campuses.
The inclusion of cross-curricular project work is meant to stimulate interest, and group activities allow students to develop improved co-operative and social skills.
Additionally, organizational and learning skills, such as time management, are also taught in Guidance as well as subject specific classes.
[12] Once the Brevet years are over, students go through an intermediary period known as Level III where they are taught most Ontario Grade 11 material.
Extended Essay – an independent research paper of 4,000 words on a topic chosen by each student, written under the guidance of a supervisor and assessed by an International Baccalaureate examiner.
Theory of Knowledge – a unique course of study which asks students to reflect critically upon knowledge claims and judgments made in a wide range of academic and experiential areas C. Creativity, Action, Service – the CAS program requires students to be involved in creative pursuits, physical activities and community service for a total of 150 hours over the two IB years.