In 1975, a small group of parents in the Beaches area began to meet on a weekly basis and eventually presented a brief outlining their goals and concepts to the “Alternatives in Education Committee” of the Toronto Board of Education. This brief was approved and Beaches Alternative School opened its doors in September of 1976.
The statement of philosophy contained in the original brief to the TDSB read:
“Beaches Alternative School aims to instil self-confidence in the students and at the same time encourage helpfulness and co-operation among the students, teachers and parents. The parents and teachers hope to teach the children to accept others without prejudice by exposing the children to alternative life-styles and cultures. It is believed that there should be interaction between the school and community. The school tries to nurture the natural creativity and originality that exists in each child.”
Over time, our philosophy has changed and adapted, with many of its original core values remaining. Beaches Alternative School, from its beginnings, has always had a focus on community building and social justice. Some facets of social responsibility are taught and modelled regularly in everyday classroom activities at BAS (acceptance of differences in others, celebration of individuality, awareness and interest in world cultures, peace-building, affirmation of neurodiversity, and gender diversity awareness).
At Beaches, we want to encourage the development of Social Responsibility through authentic, local, concrete actions that help children feel they can be agents of change in their community. This is encouraged through learning experiences and activities that help children expand their own vision of themselves as capable and competent, and learning experiences and activities that encourage looking outward to helping others.
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