Roundtable Q&A Discussion About Sunnybrook School (2025)

What I like about the IB is it's very much focused on being more of a creator and taking yourself to where you want to go. I really think that's beneficial in a lot of different ways and is going to serve my child and all the children there as they advance in life and higher levels of education, and then as they go into adulthood.

It's inspiring her to think about her own actions. So she's not just learning, like, yes, landfills are here, and they are big, and there's lots of garbage. But yesterday we were at the park, and she didn't finish her ice cream, and she was like, "Well, this is going in the landfill, and that's not great. I don't want to waste it."

I learned the teachers actually get together when kids are moving up, and they talk about each specific child in the class. They say like, "Here's what works well with this child. Here are some of the things this child finds difficult. Here are the ways that things really seem to click with them."

The expectations are there to help your child to really flourish and become independent, but not without a safety net and not without the care and support that the teachers there provide.

I think that provides a lot of comfort as a parent that you can see your child is growing and developing in all these ways. But they're not alone, and they're not going to be left to struggle. They'll be helped and guided to the path that's going to work for them when they need it.

What we've really experienced at Sunnybrook is just this whole human-level experience. It's been so much more than just sort of memorizing the correct answer, but rather how to get the child to really take agency of their own learning.

I think for me, the biggest piece about Sunnybrook that feels surprising, given that it's such a small school, is that leadership is such a focus.

She's confident expressing her opinions. She's not focused so much on getting the right answer, but really focused on cultivating her own understanding.

IB really creates a beautiful container… I think this is where Sunnybrook has really excelled in creating this safe container so that kids can start to really tap into that agency, take ownership of their learning, think for themselves, and also really build that confidence to explore and question safely, which is not something that kids can do in every environment.

I think the learner profile particularly resonates with me. It's like maybe one of my favourite parts of the whole IB framework. I think because it really emphasizes this idea of who the children are becoming.

What I love about the IB framework here is that it really just sort of zooms everything back up to the traits that we're trying to cultivate in these little humans… It's given her the ability to sort of sit with herself and really look at, you know, okay, where is there room for improvement?

There's an environment that encourages exploration, and there's a safety in that… It's not this sort of static thing that you are learning with sort of right and wrong in a textbook, and it doesn't apply to sort of this broader world that they're experiencing for the first time.

They've just grown into these learners. How it happened, we don't know. But I think it was the combination of IB and Sunnybrook.

What I've really appreciated about the IB approach is that it encourages children to think beyond simply memorizing facts… My kids have enjoyed learning through the big-picture lens that IB promotes. They are encouraged to ask questions, make connections between different subjects, and take ownership of finding the answers they're seeking.

Many projects require students to work together, share ideas, and take responsibility not only for their own work but also for their classmates. This helps create a very positive and inclusive school community.

What excites me the most is that the skills that the children are learning extend far beyond elementary school. The ability to research, collaborate, communicate, and think independently will serve them well in high school, university, and their careers.

Being able to choose a topic he was passionate about immediately made him more engaged in the learning process, and it has been a learning experience for me as well. He researched the facts, gathered the information, and learned how to organize what he discovered into a meaningful presentation.

What impressed me the most about the project was that it simply went beyond collecting facts. The students used technology to create, in this case, an iMovie presentation with images, narration, music, and voiceovers. It gives an opportunity to be creative while also developing research and communication skills at the same time.

The students were encouraged to explore their interests, develop research skills, and become comfortable presenting their ideas to others and to the rest of the school. They're also encouraged to be risk-takers by trying new tools and learning new ways to present their ideas to the class and the school.

The academic foundation is very strong, particularly in areas like language and mathematics. But what stands out even more are the skills students develop throughout their years in the IB program.

Students are also given opportunities to develop strong self-management skills, whether that's staying organized, managing deadlines, or taking ownership of their learning.

I have also noticed that Sunnybrook students become very comfortable using technology as a learning tool. They know how to gather information, evaluate sources, organize their thinking, and present their work effectively. These are skills that all schools expect students to have when they enter middle school, at a minimum, in today's day and age.

Students learn to think about their role in the world and how their actions affect others. That maturity helps them navigate new environments and build positive relationships when they move on to their next school.

By the time students graduate, they have developed not only strong academic skills but also the confidence and independence needed to take that next step successfully.

I think the IB approach encourages that curiosity and gives the kids the tools to explore subjects independently, which creates a real sense of ownership over their learning.