St Andrews Collge/ Pickering College/ Ashbury Collge

Prep School Admissions
1

Which is better ? How would you describe?
Academic rigor
All round development of students
Extra curricular activities
Sports
University Placements
General vibe of the school

2

Anyone with any insights into these schools in Toronto??

3

Ashbury College is Ottawa, not near Toronto I believe.

SAC and Pickering are in the conurbations around of Toronto, rather than in Toronto. I have daughters rather than sons so don’t have personal insight into either them specifically. They have a reputation for being decent schools - SAC is considered older and perhaps more academic than Pickering but I don’t think that either are considered huge powerhouses. They provide an “all-round” experience to a wide ability range, with sport and ECs as important as academics. They will cover the requirements of the Ontario Secondary School curriculum and most kids will go to universities in Ontario/Canada. Some kids will take some APs, but if any do go to HYP etc. ice hockey ability and other hooks may be a factor in their acceptance. Kids aren’t traveling from downtown Toronto to go to those schools.
Ourkids.net will have a write-up for them.

4

@CheddarIsBest : Thanks for the response.
Which schools would be considered the powerhouses near Toronto? And could you please elaborate a little on ‘powerhouse’?
I’m totally new to the area so any recommendations will be welcome.

5

powerhouses = schools that consistently send kids to the most selective university programs for academic reasons.
If you want suggestions for schools you need to provide some information about what you want/need. Have you visited any?

6

That’s the kind of school I would consider for my son!

I haven’t visited any yet. I am trying to scale down the number of schools to about 4-5 and then schedule visits. We will need to travel to Toronto for that.

  • must have : a school where the child is challenged academically with options for students who are advanced in a particular subject.
  • An all round focus on the child in terms of extra curricular activities, sports, arts and music.
  • An engaging faculty that will support the child
  • Of course good university placements also matter.
7

If you haven’t yet, see Twitter feed for SAC. You’ll get the highlights, with video clips, sense of the calendar, and they also have Youtube Channel. Some schools have parent or fundraising or philanthopy forums. Can give some insights for what a family is expected to do.

See University placements
https://www.sac.on.ca/upper-school/university-counselling/graduate-summary