The Giles School - An Easy Decision

Perhaps the hardest decision we have had to make as parents was where to send our child to school.

After looking at many schools we decided that The Giles School was right for us for two overriding reasons. Firstly, we liked the teachers, the environment and make up of the school, and the curriculum, both for the early years and for high school. And secondly, we had both graduated from The Toronto French School in the 1980's when Harry Giles was headmaster, so not only did we have high standards but we also knew what to expect from a school run by Mr. Giles.

From the very beginning at TFS it was clear that the school that Mr. Giles founded was different. We went to school in church and synagogue basements, or above the A & P on Yonge St., we were taught entirely in French by young enthusiastic teachers brought in straight from France, and the classes were small. In 1969 this was unheard of.

In the old days of 13 grades, Mr. Giles was pushing his students through in 12, and they were still achieving a remarkable rate of University entrance (some classmates went to Neufchatel, Caltech, Oberlin, MIT), not to mention a first class standing in external exams like the French Baccalaureate, and the O and A levels.

The experience of the early years was one of warmth, and exciting and innovative learning. The kids came from diverse backgrounds, but we were on a level playing field at TFS. Education in all subjects was advanced, but it was the French education which was most remarkable: we all learned to speak fluently in both official languages. It wasn't until the latter half of the 1970's that the public school system started a French language school. And the education at the Ecole Public Gabrielle Roy was nowhere near the level of the Toronto French School: I attended the public school for a very boring year.

But it was in high school when we began to understand what all the early intervention and language training had been preparing us for. We quickly began to realize that Harry Giles was running a school which could compete with any school in Canada. In the math Olympiad, in science fairs, in debating competitions, we competed and won. In the 1984 Ontario private school public speaking competition we took first, second and third places. Our debaters represented Canada in international competition, as did our math and science students. I remember debating in Montreal against the legendary Upper Canada College team. They sure intimidated us. But they didn't beat us.

Perhaps the most important aspect of our education at TFS was the O and A levels. We had always studied literature, science and math in a traditional fashion. But like British students, we spent a year preparing for the O and A levels. In the English O level, for instance, we spent a year studying four books. None of the students had ever had a chance to study Shakespeare in such depth, and I think it's fair to say that in that year we all came to understand why Shakespeare is so beloved. The same was true for the math and science exams. What none of us knew at the time was that even in the O levels we were studying at a level and intensity that we wouldn't again have the opportunity to do until our majors in University.

But if the study was the most important aspect of our education, the teachers were the most memorable. Handpicked by Harry Giles, these teachers were the backbone of the school, and all of them were memorable: the math teacher who passionately loved numbers, and transferred that passion to his students; the English teacher who managed to get students to read widely outside of the curriculum; the history teacher who relentlessly taught the great skill of structure in essays. All of these teachers taught skills which I use to this day.

When it was clear that our three year old daughter was bored at daycare, that she was ready to learn much more, it was our memory of attending Harry Giles' school which tipped the balance. After visiting many schools we knew that TFS had changed profoundly since we had attended. When we visited the Giles School we knew right away that Mr. Giles had started a new school based on the same principles: early intervention, advanced curriculum, excellent faculty and the best French language education in the city.

Harry Giles managed to turn one of the most difficult decisions of parenthood into an easy one.

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