City Academy - Frequently Asked Questions

The school is owned and principaled by a career educator who worked for many years in the public school system as a teacher, consultant and principal. As well, on several occasions she was requested to work with the Ministry of Education as an education officer and a supervisory officer with both field and writing responsibilities. In addition, for many years, she was employed as an adjunct professor at York University on the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Principals’ Course. Because of her experience as a teacher of teachers she consistently offers her staff opportunities for professional development in curriculum content and delivery.

Reflective of our principal’s history is the strong belief that at City Academy we are a school before we are a business. Our “bottom line” is students.

Our students are drawn from high schools, both public and private, across the GTA and beyond. Several of City Academy’s students are elite athletes or talented musicians, actors and film makers who take advantage of our flexible timetabling in order to have time for their sport or vocation, while achieving academic excellence. All City Academy students have the desire to succeed and are prepared to exhibit the necessary work ethic required to achieve their goals. They have also accepted ownership for their success.

City Academy teachers are talented, energetic, student-friendly subject specialists, most of whom possess Master’s degrees or double Master’s degrees. They are hired for their ability to relate to students, assess student needs and to do the work necessary to inspire students to achieve optimum success. Because of our teachers’ passion for their subject of expertise they offer exemplary instruction.

The school’s staff remains consistent. Courses offered at night school and summer school are taught by the same staff who teach day school.

The course selection at City Academy is as broad as is available in any public high school in Ontario. City Academy has the facilities and teacher expertise to offer excellent preparation for students who wish to enter the disciplines of mathematics, sciences, social sciences, humanities, communications, business, computer sciences, English and the fine arts (especially visual arts).

We are pleased that many of the large private high schools, in and outside of Toronto, recommend City Academy as a place for their students to take extra courses and/or courses which cannot be accommodated in the regular homeschool timetable.

Please refer to our course calendar for a full list of course offerings.

Our students have been accepted to all universities in Ontario and throughout Canada. We have also placed students in many universities in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe. Several of our students have been admitted to graduate programs at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. Parents, students and universities report that because of the knowledge, self-awareness and the four-semester timetable structure at City Academy our students demonstrate a readiness to master the many challenges of the university experience.

6. How does City Academy prepare students for post-secondary studies?

City Academy employs a fulltime university placement counsellor. Students and parents have constant access to her expertise and research skills, thus negating the need for a professional education consultant. Our goal is to expose our students to as many choices as possible. This service is part of the basic fee structure.

Within the context of our course delivery City Academy teachers stress the skills required for student success: time management; test and exam preparation; test and exam writing; organization; note-taking; essay writing. Students are treated with respect and as self-starting, self-disciplined young adults who will take ownership for their own success.

In addition we offer preparation courses for SAT and ACT exams. Students may also elect to take non-credit courses to further enhance the skills required to be a successful post-secondary student.

City Academy is located at 3080 Yonge Street (Yonge and Lawrence). The location has 27 teaching spaces with access to a pleasant courtyard and close proximity to a public library. The school is easily accessed by public transportation.

The school has never advertised. Because of our excellent reputation with past students and parents we have grown from five students to two hundred and forty students over the past eight years. Therefore, advertising funds are instead used to enhance day-to-day curriculum delivery.