Donview Middle Health and Wellness Academy

We Feature

Health and Wellness Academy

We are very excited to be an Academy for Health and Wellness. Students become advocates for healthy living and will learn the important connection between good nutrition, physical fitness and social/emotional well-being through partnerships, activities and concepts embedded into the curriculum. Our program will focus on five pillars: physical, intellectual, social, emotional/mental and career wellness. Students who participate actively feel better about themselves and abilities, cope better with stress, and do better in math, reading and memorization.

Donview Middle Health and Wellness Academy's Mission Statement

Donview Middle School provides a Transition Years Program that supports early adolescents along the continuum from childhood to young adulthood and from dependent towards self-directed learner. The Core Teacher program is an integral part of our ongoing efforts to provide a safe, stimulating and enjoyable environment. In addition to a challenging academic program, Donview offers students many opportunities to develop skills and gain information that will encourage them to make healthy lifestyle choices and decisions. The school serves a diverse population of almost 400 students. Over 38 different languages are represented, the largest groups being Bengali, Chinese, Urdu, Persian, Tamil, Spanish, Arabic and Korean.

School Organization

The school is organized on a grade team model. The grade team teachers meet regularly to plan common programs and methods of assessing student progress. Focus programs in both ESL/ESD and Special Education are timetabled to provide support to students in the core subjects: literacy, numeracy, and social studies. Donview also houses the intensive support programs for Gifted, MID and Behaviour/MID students in the East Region of the TDSB. Our students are also exposed to the arts, technology and healthy living through music, visual arts, information technology, design and technology and physical education and health programs.

More Information About Donview Middle Health and Wellness Academy

Environmental Activities

Donview is a Silver Eco School. We participate in recycling and composting within the school and strongly encourage students to bring a bag lunch from home. Each spring we participate in the Toronto "20 Minute Make-over" program and celebrate Earth Day by "powering down" our classrooms. We believe, at Donview, that every day should be Earth Day.

Character Development

Each month our students are involved in a monthly assemblies to highlight an aspect of our Health and Wellness program. Speakers have included Olympic Athletes, Officer Neil & Internet Safety, MADD, Covenant House, CAMH, The Argos, Right to Play, and The Heart & Stroke Foundation. We also reward students who demonstrate excellence at award assemblies and at graduation.

Parent Communication

Parental support and communication are major elements in the success of the transition learner. Communication is strengthened through students' use of the daily planner, Donview parent email, monthly newsletters, Twitter feeds and opportunities for parents to meet with the school staff to discuss school issues and programs.

School Athletics

Our Dragons participate in many co-curricular sports: cross-country, volleyball, basketball, track & field and soccer. We also encourage participation in athletic clubs such as badminton, table tennis, spin class, yoga and circuit training. Fitness is an integral part of physical education. Intramural games are fun, inclusive and promote something for everyone

Additional Features

Innovation in Learning
Information Technology Lab
Instrumental Band Program
Design and Technology Program
Fitness/Yoga Room
Visual Arts Program
Mindfulness practices
integrated Health & Wellness themes

Student Life - Where You Belong

GO TEAM

The students at Donview M.S. belong to a community which promotes the well rounded healthy student. Our students are encouraged to not only do well in the classroom but also to try new activities, join clubs and belong to teams.

Leadership is promoted through the Student Council, SAT (School Action Team), Young Women on the Move and the Athletic leadership group. These groups actively raise awareness and funds for "our village" and for other social causes and educate our students about violence against women and bullying.

Students are encouraged to find their "passion" and can be found in the music room practising, the DT lab building a robotic machine or in the gym practising for the volleyball team. Our students volunteer their time to run morning announcements, help in the resource centre and work in the cafeteria.

Family Literacy, Family Math/Science and Family Design and Technology evenings are very well attended and fun for all ages. Parents enjoy our Music nights which are held twice a year. Our students have an opportunity to show off their talents in our annual Talent Show which highlights dancing, singing and instrumental numbers.

WHAT SETS US APART

Donview is a community school which provides an excellent academic program for our students as well as specialized programming for students who live in the East Region of the TDSB. We are very proud of our diversity, culture and the feeling of inclusiveness. Donview recognizes that healthy young people learn better, achieve more and can have increased positive behaviours. That is why we attempt to incorporate health & wellness into all aspects of school life. We are proud to be a member of the community and show it by helping out at our feeder schools, doing an environmental clean-up in the greater community and being respectful of our neighbours.

We provide an excellent transitional program that takes students from the junior division and gives them the skills and knowledge that are needed for success in the secondary panel. At Donview we expose students to specialists in the areas of Art, Physical Education, Design and Technology, and Instrumental Music. We also value and promote character education and work together with our families to develop global citizens.

PARENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Donview values the contributions made by parents, volunteers and other community groups. School Council meetings are held regularly and provide an opportunity for parents to have an active voice. The school produces a newsletter bi-monthly with upcoming dates, in-school activities and information for parents on a variety of topics. We encourage adults to be positive role models where our students can adopt healthy eating habits, attitudes and a positive self image by observing this same behaviour from the significant adults in their lives. Parent volunteers are encouraged to become involved in working directly with students in the classroom and in assisting in our Information Resources Centre. Donview also hosts volunteers from secondary schools, Faculty of Education, tutors from universities and Child and Youth Worker candidates from four community colleges.