About Our School

To us, Equinox Holistic Alternative School is a special place.

Of course, anywhere that children come together to learn is bound to feel special. Our particular sort of special has something to do with the tall city Lindens under which kindergarteners learn. It’s in the delight of a child teaching their grownups the difference between a bird’s nest and a drey, or a birch leaf and an aspen. It’s in the amount of dirt that comes home under fingernails and inside boots. It’s in the fresh air “sit-spots” and the painted rally signs for eco-justice marches and the good questions asked of political campaigners who come to share their platforms.

Equinox, as we call our school, is a public school, part of the Toronto District School Board, and as such, follows the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum, but our approach to teaching it is our own, and grounded in holistic education and nature-based learning practices.

Subjects are taught across disciplines and teach the whole child — head, hands, and heart. Through this holistic academic approach with a focus on nature, interconnection, and community, students are encouraged to become thoughtful, curious, just, and caring people who are environmental stewards and lifelong learners.

"Holistic education is an effort to cultivate the development of the whole human being. Where conventional schooling views the child as a passive receiver of information and rules, or at most as a computer-like processor of information, a holistic approach recognizes that to become a full person, a growing child needs to develop — in addition to intellectual skills — physical, psychological, emotional, interpersonal, moral and spirited potentials. The child is not merely a future citizen or employee in training, but an intricate and delicate web of vital forces and environmental influences."

Jack Miller

Professor at the University of Toronto - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education & Equinox Founding Partner