Academics
Southridge is a community of learners who build knowledge, skills, and attitudes together.
We seek to develop students with the confidence, capability, and character to succeed as people who can actualize their ideals in their personal and public lives to the benefit of the wider community.
This challenging program of studies is designed to prepare students for post-secondary school courses of study, while allowing them to pursue their individual passions and abilities. A full range of academic electives is introduced in Grade 11. Students select individual programs according to their strengths/preferences and are guided in their decisions by the University Guidance Counsellors and the Vice Principal, Senior School Learning. The Southridge academic program covers all prerequisites for studies in the arts, sciences, engineering, business, and foreign languages at universities in Canada, the United States, Europe, and abroad.
We also offer Advanced Placement (College Board) courses and examinations in several disciplines through which students earn university-level course credits that are recognized at schools around the world. .
In many of our classrooms, students are seated in small groups or gathered around a large Harkness table, explaining a point, seeking clarification from the teacher or their peers, offering an opinion, challenging an assumption, or asking a question. We encourage students to become active participants in their learning and the learning of others.
While we focus on building a sound knowledge base for our students, we are equally committed to nurturing the development of students who are engaged with each other and the world around them - students who are thoughtful, compassionate citizens. The development of sound character and personal integrity is central to our educational mandate, as it is in all areas of school life. Sound character and integrity guide the useful application of knowledge in contributing to community, which is one of Southridge’s Guiding Principles.
OUR SENIOR SCHOOL EDUCATION PROGRAM (SSEP)
The Senior School Education Program is a future thinking framework that is used to inform, guide, and provide opportunities for our students to develop across a variety of educational areas. The SSEP is not a curriculum but rather a program to support the types of competencies students will need to thrive in the future. It incorporates the academic program, the co-curricular program (including athletics), the service learning program, the arts program, outdoor education, and character development.
