Roundtable Q&A Discussion About Trinity College School (2021)

What we loved about Trinity College School was the way it fostered independence in our kids, which is really important, I think, especially in this day and age. We wanted to develop independent thinkers and kids who could make decisions on their own. We did a fairly thorough search when looking for schools, knowing that we had four kids and we have four very different kids. We did want to send them eventually all to the same school.

We do have some kids who are high-performing athletes, then we've got some kids who are a bit hesitant to play sports. The fact that Trinity College School is going to encourage them, and that they would all have that opportunity, and be supported at different levels of play was important. You don't find that often. There are schools where some kids might not make the team, and then feel shy or back away from sports. At Trinity College School there's every level and ability again to build confidence. That's what we were looking for in a school.

Trinity College School exceeded our expectations. Our kids are super independent, and what I love is that they feel they're making their own choices. I'm behind the scenes and have great support from the school and their teachers, but I feel like they feel they're in charge, and I think they really are. They're picking their courses with their advisors. They're excited to tell me about it, as opposed to me leading that discussion. I think, as a result, our relationship between my teenagers and my husband and I is a lot better.

The biggest impact Trinity College School has had on my children is their sense of independence.

I’ve also noticed my kids’ stress and anxiety levels have gone down. They can still be challenged academically, but she doesn't feel the pressure. I think they all have really good relationships with their teachers.

There's that great relationship, where the students are doing it on their own things, but behind the scenes, I can also watch their school calendars if I need to. If there are things that are falling behind, the teachers reach out to me. My kids feel like they can ask questions and they're being heard, and on the flip side, from a parent perspective, I feel like even though I've got two kids boarding, I know the teachers really well and I can reach out.

I watched my son go off to university this year with so much confidence. It was awesome. His connection back into the Trinity College School community is amazing. He's come back this summer, and that's his world. He's reconnected with all these buddies, whether he's going on camping trips with them, visiting Toronto, out here in Port Hope. That's really cool, that he continues that sense of community, and I think the school really fosters that.

What I love is that Trinity College School and the teachers get to know the kids. One of my daughters this year, realizing what kind of learner she is, will go to do academic support, and a learning strategies course this term. That's going to help her enormously. She'll be able to move out of the study hall into an assisted study session in the evenings, and get the support she needs. We watched, with my son, how that helped him.

If the kids are feeling challenged, there are people at Trinity College School who are recognizing that, and helping them to develop their confidence, so that by the time they finish school, they're fully able to do it on their own. I would say, if my kids were to talk about the school from last year, they really missed their friends. So when they were online, that was the hardest part, as they loved that sense of community, and they were just getting into the thick of the school spirit.

I think this sense of community at Trinity College School is so broad because it's worldly, which is incredible. My kids now have friends all around the world, and they bring friends home from all around the world, and that is incredible. It's like I don't know how many. I think there are about 50 countries represented at Trinity College School, or there have been, give or take, in different years. That is an incredible opportunity to learn from other people's cultures.

Three words that describe Trinity College School are community-minded, courageous and warm, and wise at the same time. I would put an emphasis on the warm part, too. I think that every staff member, and especially for kids who are going away from home for the first time, it's amazing that you know the people who are helping clean your clothes, but you feel like they're an aunt or an uncle, and everyone in that whole community is amazing.

I love the fact that Trinity College School chooses the children based on their potential. So it's not about who's the most academic. It's all about the child and the family that they come from. The values of wanting to be challenged, the values of being kind, and having potential.

My kids meet kids from different countries, but I think the similarity is that everyone comes from a wonderful, nurturing family that is taking a leap to send their kids to a school that they often haven't even seen.

As we meet Trinity College School families along the line, everyone is so welcoming and inclusive. Our kids have friends who come and stay, and their parents will reach out right away. I feel like my community is expanded just from having my kids at Trinity College School.

I think the campus being as beautiful as it is, and historic as it is, brings out a level of respect from the kids. They wear the uniform with so much pride, but also the fact that they're in Chapel and they're in these old buildings. They're so proud. When my kid’s friends come to visit now, the first thing they do is walk up to Trinity College School and show off the campus.

What I love about Trinity College School is it knows itself. It stands by the fact that it's about developing kind kids with courage who are going to be out in the world and be independent. My kids came from other schools. My daughter came from a competitive girls’ school in Toronto where I felt like it's completely fine, but I felt like they were spending a lot of time marketing, and trying to create who they were, and the buzzwords changed.

Trinity College School spends a lot of time getting to know the kids, and the correspondence is very direct and smart. I don't find it wishy-washy at all. I just find the answers are there. I didn't find that with the other schools my kids went to.

From my perspective, I really think that Trinity College School is such a strong school. The best thing is that any kind of kid can go to Trinity College School and thrive. I'm seeing that from four different perspectives, so I really don't have any negative comments.

Trinity College School makes the kids feel so relaxed from day one, and they walk them through the whole boarding school opportunity.

What I personally really loved about Trinity College School is whatever happened on the sports field, the whole community always knew about it, and you were always cheered on. Every morning in Chapel, the team captains would go up and announce that their team was playing today, or the score from the weekend. They really had the whole school cheering for them, which I always felt created an even greater sense of community, and always motivated me to play even harder.

I'm very happy to say that I was very, very surprised by how good the food really is at Trinity College School. Even since I've graduated, I've made some friends, went to other boarding schools in the Toronto area, and they were all saying that they always love coming to Trinity College School to play sports because then they'd get to stay for lunch or dinner.

I think another important point was my relationship with my teachers at Trinity College School. It always felt like we were on the same level. It never felt like they were the instructor telling me what to do. It always felt like it was a relationship that really went both ways. I could ask questions. If I felt like there was an assignment, where I wanted to do something different, the teachers were always happy to explore that with us, within certain boundaries, of course.

Something I really loved about Trinity College School is we'd be challenged to take on this big essay, but then once you're getting into it, you could still go back to your teachers, and just ask, ‘Hey, am I going in the right direction?’ So I never felt like those tasks were too big, but it still felt like I had to push myself to reach those goals.

Any Trinity College School alumni I meet, everyone has that connection. You so easily connect with people who have been there. I think that speaks a lot to the community that really is fostered there.

When I was at Trinity College School my first roommate was from Taiwan, and then my second roommate was from Hong Kong in my second year. It's funny now, looking back. I only now realized that I actually picked up a lot of different cultural cues, and just little things that I never thought of at the moment.  Now, looking back, it's like, ‘wow, this is amazing.’ I've now gone to Australia to see a Trinity College School friend, Hong Kong, and throughout Europe to three different places.

I know that moving forward, I have a bunch of friends from Trinity College School who are from Bermuda and the Bahamas, so obviously I want to go there. I know that even though I haven't spoken to some of them in two or three years, if I call them up and say, ‘Hey, I'm coming.’ They will say, ‘Yes. Let's hang out. Let’s reconnect.’

I would say Trinity College School is open minded, warm, and challenging.  Warmth to me is probably the biggest one, because that's what I really felt. That's something I never felt with my teachers in Germany. I really felt like all the teachers and all the staff, not even just the teachers. It's the entire staff. If it's someone in the kitchen, or cleaning staff, or the headmaster, it's really all of them. They actually care about you as a person.

The headmaster, usually within the first two or three weeks, held on to everyone's name. It's just those little things that I think make Trinity College School so awesome.

Trinity College School teaches everyone to show a level of respect, no matter who it is. That's something that I always felt. Sometimes I feel like it can feel like cleaning staff or kitchen staff. You better be respectful to them, and say thank you. You actually develop a normal relationship with them.

While I was at Trinity College School, sports were a huge part of my life. I played soccer, squash, and tennis. So for me, those things were probably the biggest thing I liked about Trinity College School, and then the community aspect. Now that I've left, it's definitely the overwhelming community aspect, and really just the idea of being open-minded to a lot of new things is something that I really took away from Trinity College School.

I will always say that going to Trinity College School is probably the best decision I've made in my life so far, and my parents would agree that that's the best decision that we've made together.

Another great thing about Trinity College School is the campus. It's such a beautiful campus. I'm always reminded, whenever I now drive by Port Hope. I always try to just drive by the campus because it is so stunning.

The food is the biggest differentiator of Trinity College School from other schools. Also, the relationship with my teachers. I never felt like people from other schools had the same connection that I had with my teachers and house masters. It even went as far as I would sit down with my house masters at night, and they'd even be open to talking about my girl problems with me.

That sense of community and the relationships you have with everyone at Trinity College School is just different. It really is. I guess if you want to put it into one gesture, it would be the opening of the door. It's just such a simple, small thing, but it goes so far.