Equinox Holistic Alternative School is a special place.
Equinox Holistic Alternative School is a special place. Of course, anywhere that children come together to learn is bound to feel special. Our particular sort of special has to do with the tall linden trees under which kindergarteners learn. It’s in the delight of a child teaching their grownup the difference between a bird's nest and a drey, or a birch leaf and an aspen. It’s in the amount of dirt that comes home under fingernails and inside boots. It’s in the fresh air “sit-spots” and the painted rally signs for eco-justice marches, and in the songs of ukulele strumming. It’s in the way children leave eighth grade feeling deeply loved, and confident in their unique identities, with the skills to self-advocate and carve out their essential places in the larger community.
Equinox is a public school under the Toronto District School Board and, as such, follows the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum; however, our approach to teaching it is our own and is grounded in Holistic Education and nature-based learning practices.
"Holistic education is an effort to cultivate the development of the whole human being. Where conventional schooling views the child as a passive receiver of information and rules, or at most as a computer-like processor of information, a holistic approach recognizes that to become a full person, a growing child needs to develop — in addition to intellectual skills — physical, psychological, emotional, interpersonal, moral and spirited potentials. The child is not merely a future citizen or employee in training, but an intricate and delicate web of vital forces and environmental influences."
Jack Miller
Professor at the University of Toronto - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education & Equinox Founding Partner