Walden International School
2035 Upper Middle Road East, Oakville, ON
Gender: Coeducational
Living: Day
Henry David Thoreau’s seminal text Walden; or, Life in the Woods inspired the name of Walden International School. He once wrote: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Confident advancement and the International Baccalaureate programme are the foundations upon which the institution has been built. This coming Fall, the Walden International School will open its second campus in Ontario, on the site of the former Glenburnie School, and continue its tradition of preparing your children for success in the modern world.
In the challenging realities of the present-day economy, education is at the forefront of parents’ concerns. Private schools offer their students what public schools are unable to: smaller class sizes with individualized attention to each and every child’s unique needs; the budgetary flexibility to build the most qualified faculties; and freedom from the role of legislative mandates that do not necessarily have the students’ best interests at heart.
Furthermore, Walden includes Service Learning within the tenets of its pedagogy. They believe it to be an essential part of the development of, “student confidence and leadership skills, teaches students the importance of giving, and inspires the commitment to social justice” in building not just the leaders of tomorrow, but the community of today. Also within those tenets are the understanding and promotion of the roles of technology and innovation, and how they can contribute to critical thinking skills essential in the successes of the modern student.
Walden sees wellness as essential to the learning experience, providing students with mindfulness, believing the whole body participates in an education. They are given a voice and responsibility, where the “classroom becomes a forum for collaboration and discovery.” This philosophy is born of Walden’s investment and membership in the world-renowned International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. Walden students are challenged to excel in their studies and individual development to realize personal and academic achievement.
