Wishing Well Schools

Wishing Well Schools is a private school for children aged 18 months to Grade 8. Our Toddler and Children's House programs follow the Montessori curriculum, while the Elementary program follows the Ontario Curriculum in an enriched learning environment. We firmly believe that collaboration, creativity, innovation and curiosity are the keys to learning, and Wishing Well Schools aims to create an environment where these skills flourish.

Wishing Well Schools, located in Markham, Ontario, offers the finest Montessori Toddler, Montessori Children's House and enriched Ontario Curriculum Elementary programs available.

The Wishing Well Schools Toddler program (ages 18 to 30 months) is a CCMA accredited program which follows the Montessori philosophy and is carefully prepared ensuring children feel safe and have a sense of belonging and independence. The role of Montessori teacher and Early Childhood Educator is to guide, nurture, discipline and facilitate children as they grow and learn, developing at his or her own pace. Our Toddler children follow a calm and carefully considered daily routine developing in all areas of independence, ability and confidence.

The Wishing Well Schools Children's House program is CCMA accredited and two fully qualified Montessori teachers are in each classroom. Mixed age classrooms are an important factor of the Montessori curriculum and our 1st, 2nd and 3rd Year Children's House students learn together with two fully qualified Montessori teachers in each classroom. In order to prepare them for Grade 1, we focus on an enriched learning environment that integrates the Montessori philosophy with academic advancement and achievement. Our 3rd year Children's House students enter Grade 1 having already completed the Grade 1 program, which is why we begin our Elementary program 1 year ahead in an accelerated learning environment. French, gym, art, STEAM and music are all integrated into the Children's House program.

Finally, the Wishing Well Schools Elementary Program is one of the finest available, as evidenced in our CAT4 and EQAO scores, as well as in the achievement of our students who go on to advanced AP programs and IB programs at secondary schools across the city. We teach an accelerated curriculum where students learn one year ahead in an enriched environment. While we believe that academic excellence is an important factor in every child's success, the key to a full education lies in nurturing all areas of a child's development, including global awareness, citizenship, athletics, and creative ability.

Our Wishing Well Schools CCMA Accredited Montessori Toddler community offers children 18 months of age opportunities to explore their independence and connection to the world using their extraordinary capacity for learning. The program allows the children to develop oral communication skills, independence and problem solving. In addition to the Montessori curriculum, students have weekly STEAM lessons, baking and cooking lessons, Yoga, and an extensive after school arts program that focuses on visual arts, singing, dancing and expression.

In this caring, respectful community, Toddlers learn the development of order, concentration and control of movement while developing responsible group awareness. Our Toddlers are amazing and we love to see them grow and learn. Our Mission: Our focus is to provide students with a stimulating and academically challenging education that is deeply committed to the Montessori principles, so that they may reach their full potential with integrity and trust.

At the Wishing Well Schools Children’s House, each child develops at his or her own pace in the prepared Montessori Environment with specially designed Montessori Materials. Our students engage in a mixed-age learning environment with two fully qualified Montessori Teachers in each class. Wishing Well Schools is CCMA Accredited, so you know you will be providing your child with the highest quality of Montessori education available.

Activities cover all aspects of child development; intellectual, physical and social. Each activity is complete in itself and activities are inter-related. We provide the students with achievable challenges throughout their time at the school so that self-esteem is nurtured and they are encouraged to even greater exploration and learning.

Young children have a strong urge to become independent. Practical Life activities help them to perfect the skills they need in daily life. Whilst learning essential life skills, the children are also developing hand-eye co-ordination and the capacity to focus their attention for the entirety of an activity. Successful completion of such tasks gives children a real sense of their own achievement, and this builds their self-confidence.

Children are vividly aware of the world, constantly exploring it and taking in impressions through all their senses. The sensorial materials encourage children to order and classify the physical properties of the world they live in. These activities stimulate and develop the senses, refining children’s powers of observation, perception, exploration and communication.

Montessori mathematics materials enable even a very young child to achieve a natural appreciation of mathematical concepts through his or her own efforts. This avoids the mental blocks which so often occur in children faced with purely abstract concepts. Specially designed equipment helps children to grasp concrete ideas along with sensory experience of numbers, quantities and mathematical operations. Gradually children can move confidently to complete abstract mathematical problems. Many Montessori educated children leave the Children’s House with a genuine love of numbers and mathematics.

In the Children’s House children learn to express themselves. The freedom offered to the children creates many opportunities for them to communicate with their peers and the adults. We emphasize the development of vocabulary based on real experiences and the early preparation required for reading and writing. Advanced activities take the child well beyond the basic skills into reading and writing for interpretation, creativity and pleasure.

The Montessori approach covers a wide range of subjects which reflect the broad interests of young children. The Montessori environment stimulates these interests and extends knowledge and understanding of art and crafts, geography, history, music and science and the natural world. Cultures from around the world are explored and celebrated.

Wishing Well Elementary School is committed to individual student achievement with a strong culture of high standards and expectations. We provide a quality, enriched learning environment where students are taught one grade level ahead following the Ontario Curriculum guidelines. Your child will achieve an enriched education that surpasses Ontario Ministry of Education standards as proven by our CAT 4 and EQAO standardized testing results.

We use the tools of education imperative to success in the 21st century. Every classroom is equipped with a variety of technological devices, such as interactive whiteboards and apple tv's, Chromebooks and iPads, and stimulating lessons are taught using this technology at all grade levels. We integrate the use of technology to further enhance the skills of research, writing, creativity and critical thinking in Grades 1 to 3. All students in Grades 4 to 8 receive a school iPad to use interactively during lessons and for homework tasks for the school year. The 1 to 1 iPad program has been highly successful in engaging children further in group work, presentations, research, film creation and analysis, and collaborative project based assignments. We teach coding to all of our students from Grade 1 to Grade 8 and Design Thinking and Computer Science to our Grade 7 and 8 students.

Our STEAM curriculum is one of our students favourite subjects and we have integrated a STEAM Fair into our yearly academic celebrations, along side our Arts Festival, Winter Pageant and Speech Arts competition.

After school clubs and activities are an important part of Wishing Well Elementary. Clubs are run every night and include a variety of sports clubs, media clubs, performance arts clubs and language clubs. A nightly homework room is provided and supervised by teachers until 6:00 p.m. We take our students skiing for six sessions in the winter months from Grade 1 to 8 and this has been a tradition for over 30 years.

Wishing Well Elementary is an environment that is both stimulating and challenging for our students. They graduate with a sense of citizenship, the academic skills to enter competitive and specialized programs in Secondary School, and a deep joy for learning that carries them through their academic career and beyond.