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Go to child profileAt Trinity College School, each student is valued for what they uniquely bring to the community because individuality matters here. TCS attracts motivated students locally, nationally, and internationally because we respect each person as we do their cultures. Day (Grade 5-12) and boarding (Grade 9-12) families alike realize that our campus is 100 acres of home, where our students quickly become a close-knit, extended family. To go to TCS is to live, breathe, and love TCS 100%. Our students are surrounded by people who only want the best for them and tailor their program accordingly so that they are ready to realize their potential. Students at TCS benefit from a balanced program of academics, service-learning, athletics, and the arts where they can explore, discover and focus on what matters to them. Students who go to Trinity College School grow into adults who know that the way you treat your classmate matters and that spending one’s time wisely is highly satisfying. Graduates develop that rare confidence that comes from knowing that they have been deeply understood and they start truly valuing themselves as well as others. We look forward to welcoming you to campus soon and introducing you to the kind and dedicated faculty, staff, and students who help to make TCS such a unique place to live and learn.
What learning looks like now: A lot has changed in the world and in our community since the previous school year was unceremoniously, but necessarily, altered due to the global pandemic. With the health and safety of your children and our staff as the top priority, there will need to be a perennial commitment to personal and community health protocols and procedures. Social interaction and relationships are a necessary element of teaching and learning, and the School has prepared a myriad of observable safety measures, within each of our buildings and on our campus grounds, which will require adherence to specific conditions of engagement. To learn more about these detailed plans and protocols, it is critical that your family reviews our School Re-Opening Fall 2020 webpage before your child returns to campus: www.tcs.on.ca/reopening2020. The continuation of the learning process for your children is imperative. It is in their best interests (and the future well-being of society) that a return to school occurs. That said, education by nature is a social activity and adolescents (and humans, in general) are social creatures. The balance between a return to school while reducing the possibility of community transmission will be our biggest challenge. And, realistically speaking, we recognize that we cannot promise that each member of our community will abide by all outlined plans and protocols perfectly. That is why each of us must remain vigilant. And helpful, supportive, compassionate and kind.
Curriculum delivery:
Living Arrangement | Grades | Delivery Model | Frequency |
---|---|---|---|
Day | Gr. 5 - Gr. 12 | In-person | Full-time |
Boarding | Gr. 9 - Gr. 12 | In-person | Full-time |
Can boarders live on-campus? Yes
Trinity College School offers bus transferring. Service options offered are regular rider.
The regions Trinity College School offers busing from are:
Trinity is one of the oldest boarding schools in Canada and, having been founded two years prior to confederation, is indeed older than the country itself. While it looks entirely different than it did when it was founded—there are no original buildings, nor does it sit at the same site as it did in 1865—the core values remain: quality academics with an eye to educating students into positions of social, professional, and political leadership. Academic achievement is highly valued—this is a school, as many will tell you, where it is cool to be smart—though tolerance, personal expression, and consideration of others are equally important. Service is central to the ethos of the school, as underscored by a robust program of service learning managed by a director dedicated to developing opportunities within the local community and beyond. The ideal student is one who responds well to challenge.
here on OurKids.net, is part of our series of in-depth accounts of Canada's leading private schools. Insights were gardnered by visiting the school and interviewing students, parents, faculty, and administrators.
This 50-page review of Trinity College School, published as a book and available to read in full,International curriculum & programs at Trinity College School: Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Focus |
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Academic |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Evolution as consensus theory | |
Evolution as one of many equally viable theories | |
Evolution is not taught |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Biology | |
Chemistry | |
Ecology | |
Geology | |
Meteorology | |
Physics | |
Physiology | |
Zoology |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Acting | |
Dance | |
Drama/Theatre | |
Graphic Design | |
Music | |
Visual Arts |
Expressive | |
Disciplined |
Subject | offered |
---|---|
Computer science | |
Robotics | |
Web design |
Flexible pacing style | offered |
---|---|
Subject-streaming (tracking) | |
Multi-age classrooms as standard | |
Ability-grouping (in-class) as common | |
Frequent use of cyber-learning (at-their-own-pace) | |
Regular guided independent study opportunities | |
Differentiated assessment |
Subject Type | offered |
---|---|
Learning strategy and study counselling; habit formation | |
Extra support and minor accommodations for children experiencing subclinical difficulties |
Subject Type | offered |
---|---|
Accommodations | |
Modifications | |
Extra support |
Read our guide to special needs schools and special education
Curriculum delivery: This information is not currently available.
Program | offered |
---|---|
Custom subject enrichment (special arrangement) | |
Custom curriculum compacting (special arrangement) | |
Guided independent study (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Cyber-learning opportunities (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Formalized peer coaching opportunities (specifically for gifted learners to coach others) | |
Custom subject acceleration (special arrangement) | |
Career exploration (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Project-based learning (custom gifted arrangement) | |
Mentorships (custom gifted arrangement) |
In grade Gr. 12, Trinity College School students perform an average of 2 hours of homework per night.
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trinity College School | 30 mins | 45 mins | 60 mins | 60 mins | 90 mins | 90 mins | 120 mins | 120 mins |
Site Average | 34 mins | 40 mins | 51 mins | 56 mins | 69 mins | 80 mins | 98 mins | 107 mins |
This school frequently "flips the classroom": asks students to learn material at home and do the "homework" in-class (with teacher support).
Lettered or numbered grades | Gr. 5 to Gr. 12 |
Prose (narrative)-based feedback | Gr. 5 to Gr. 12 |
Habits and behaviour reporting | Gr. 5 to Gr. 12 |
Parent-teacher meetings | Gr. 5 to Gr. 12 |
Competitive sports: 22
Recreational sports: 19
Trinity College School offers 25 clubs and extracurricular programs.
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
Day | $25,750 | $27,250 | $36,000 | |||||
Boarding (Domestic) | $45,000 | $59,750 | ||||||
Boarding (International) | $68,500 |
Grade range that need-based aid is offered: | 5 to 12 |
Percentage of grade-eligible students receiving financial aid | 33% |
Average aid package size | $20,000 |
Percentage of total enrolment on financial aid | 33% |
Total aid available | $2,500,000 |
This school works with Apple Financial Inc. for processing financial applications
TCS awards over $3 million dollars in financial assistance annually.
The majority of this budget is awarded in the form of “need-based” bursaries to families who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of attending TCS.
To be considered, families need to complete a financial assistance application with Apple Financial Services, an independent third-party.
Apple Financial will provide the School with an unbiased evaluation of an applicant’s financial resources and ability to fund their child’s education.
Senior School students may receive a bursary amount of up to 50% of annual tuition. Junior School students may receive a bursary amount of up to 25% of annual tuition.
The annual financial assistance budget is fixed, and during the course of the year it becomes exhausted as bursaries are granted.
The sooner a family completes an application with Apple Financial Services, the better the chance of receiving financial assistance.
Families will be required to complete the Financial Application process each year. The student’s performance both academically and as a citizen of the School will also be considered.
For more information on the bursary program at TCS, please click here.
To complete your application with Apple Financial Services and be considered for a need-based bursary
TCS offers a $57,000 incentive for all Canadian boarding students entering Grade 9.
For more details, visit:www.tcs.on.ca/canadianboardingThe scholarship is merit-based and includes full-tuition for the duration of the recipients’ studies in the boarding school program at TCS.
Grades | Gender | Living Arrangement | Enrolment | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Group 1 | Gr. 5 to Gr. 12 | Coed | Day | 290 |
Group 2 | Gr. 9 to Gr. 12 | Coed | Boarding | 280 |
Total enrolment | 570 |
Average class size | 12 to 16 |
% of international students (total enrolment) | 30% |
Number of different nationalities within student population | 45 |
Five-day boarding program offered | No |
% in boarding (grade-eligible) | 37% |
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Day Enrollment | 13 | 19 | 29 | 43 | 93 | 116 | 138 | 133 |
Boarding Enrollment | 48 | 70 | 81 | 82 | ||||
Class Size | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
Assessment | Required | Grades |
---|---|---|
Interview | 5 - 12 | |
SSAT | ||
SSAT (out of province) | ||
Entrance Exam(s) | 5 - 12 | |
Entrance Essay |
Day students: Rolling
Boarding students: Rolling
Offer mid-year entry:
N/A
Application fee: N/A
Registration fee: N/A
Deposit:
N/A
Admission Requirements
Admission to TCS is based on:
How to Apply
There are eight essential pieces of information that must be received by the School before a candidate's file will be considered for admissions:
Send to:
Admissions Office
Trinity College School
55 Deblaquire Street North
Port Hope, ON, L1A 4K7
Canada
This is the percentage of applicants typically accepted into the school. So if 50 students are admitted out of 100 applicants, the school has an overall acceptance rate of 50%.
Student Entry Points
This shows approximately how many openings there are likely to be in each grade in a typical year, as well as the estimated acceptance rate for each grade level.
Student Type | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Day Acceptance (Acceptance rate) | 16 - 18 (100%) | 0 | 10 - 15 (100%) | 0 | 15 - 20 (100%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Boarding Acceptance (Acceptance rate) | 35 - 40 (75%) | 25 - 30 (75%) | 20 - 25 (60%) | 4 - 8 (40%) |
Average graduating class size | 126 |
Students accepted into post-secondary studies upon graduation | 100% |
Percentage of students who attend post-secondary institutions outside of Canada | 24% |
Students who attended a Ivy+ school Number of students in the past 5 years that that attended one of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, University of Chicago, Oxford or Cambridge (UK) | 5 |
Queen's University | 14% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University of Toronto | 12% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western University | 9% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Trent University | 7% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wilfrid Laurier University | 4% |
Trinity College School Graduates’ Post-Secondary Studies:
Aggregate of All Schools’ Post-Secondary Studies:
Career planning | |
Internships | N/A |
Mentorship Program | |
University counseling |
What Trinity College School says:
Alumnus | Grad Year | Accomplishment |
---|---|---|
Ian Binnie | 1957 | Puisne Justice (Associate Justice) of the Supreme Court of Canada |
William Bridges | 1879 | Major General for the Australian Army. Key to the establishment of Austrailia's Royal Military College. Served as Chief of General Staff. Killed in action in WWI. |
Edgar Bronfman, Sr. | 1947 | Businessman and noted philanthropist. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Bill Clinton, and the Legion of Honour from the Government of France. |
Peter Jennings | 1956 | Journalist and news anchor, dominating American evening news through ABC's "World News Tonight" |
Archibald Lampman | 1879 | The Canadian Encyclopedia says he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." |
Yann Martel | 1981 | Man Booker Prize-winning author. Best known for "The Life of Pi", the #1 international bestseller made into a Hollywood movie. |
Mark McKinney | 1977 | Comedian and actor, best known for "The Kids in the Hall". Starred in Saturday Night Live. |
Lew Cirne | 1988 | Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and tech pioneer. Founder and CEO of Wily Technology and, later, New Relic. Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 Finalist (California). |
Peter Raymont | 1968 | Award-winning Canadian filmmaker and producer. His documentary, "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire," won multiple awards, including a 2007 Emmy. |
Ian Brown | 1972 | Award-winning Canadian journalist and author. |
William Osler | 1867 | Physician and one of four founding professors of John Hopkins Hospital, (John Hopkins University School of Medicine). |
Charles Taylor | 1949 | Award-winning and internationally-studied analytic philosopher. Domestically, Taylor was influential in debates around Quebec nationalism. |
Ben Chapdelaine | 1997 | Quarterback for the McMaster University Marauders. Recipient of the Hec Creighton Trophy awarded to the most outstanding Canadian football player in Canadian University Sport. |
Sebastian Goulet | 1989 | Canadian national swim team member and former captain of the Syracuse University varsity swim team. |
Sydney Kidd | 2010 | Member of the Western University women's varsity hockey team which won the CIS national championship in 2015. Currently rostered with the New York Riveters of the NWHL. |
Kyle Nichols | 1994 | Canadian national rugby team member from 1996-2002. Played in 27 international matches scoring a total of 10 tries. |
Toni Soderholm | 1997 | Long time European professional hockey player from Helsinki, Finland. Won a silver medal with the Finnish national team at the 2007 IIHF world championships in Moscow. |
Samantha Widmer | 2004 | An eight time Cayman Islands national golf champion, she also won a coveted America’s trophy at the Junior British Open (2001). |
For more than 140 years, Trinity College School (TCS) has been internationally recognized for excellence in educating young people. It is no surprise that our challenging and encouraging environment has helped TCS graduates gain entrance to top universities around the world, and that our alumni are leaders in their communities. But this is just half the story.
TCS has always been keenly involved in character development, as reflected in our mission, “developing habits of the heart and mind for a life of purpose and service.” Given the challenges facing our planet today, we know our students will be called upon to lead their communities, their colleagues, their cause and, in some cases, their countries. If we are to best prepare our students to meet these challenges, we must inspire them to become leaders of character, purpose and vision.
At TCS we think that the quality of character determines the quality of leader. As such, we challenge our students to establish worthy goals and to act to good purpose. We cultivate integrity in our students. We encourage honest and constructive conduct. And, on the strength of our people, our programme and our place, we help to develop leaders who are broad-minded, intelligent, thoughtful and confident.
If you are considering Trinity College School as a destination, I trust that this Web site will provide you with many of the details you desire.
However, in order to truly experience the strong, supportive community that is TCS, I would like to extend an open invitation to visit us in person. I can promise you that the caring and energizing environment that we foster and enjoy will prove unique from any other school you may have visited.
I very much look forward to welcoming you to campus.
Sincerely,
Stuart K.C. Grainger
Headmaster
The Trusted Source for Families since 1998
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