Admissions

Why Character Matters

    • We build character at Greenwood through our school culture and group norms, as well as through activities.

The students who will do best and contribute the most at Greenwood are those who not only have experienced success and overcome challenges in their lives, but who also have character.
At Greenwood, we believe that character is composed of four elements – intellectual, moral, civic and performance character. If we can instill these elements of character in our students, they will graduate ready to be competent, ethical, engaged and contributing members of society.

In order to develop these values, it's essential that students learn in a culture that endorses and practices them. At Greenwood, they'll do just that.

We build character at Greenwood through our school culture and group norms, as well as through activities that take place outside the traditional classroom, such as community outreach, athletics, outdoor education and the arts. We also believe that the students who will thrive at Greenwood are those who have character. And so, when we consider students for admission to the school, we review their character in addition to both their school performance and extracurricular involvement.
    • Character is shaped by the territory explored.

Assessing character is complex.

Greenwood relies on the following to assess character:
  • School report cards
  • Teacher recommendations
  • Admissions application
  • Interviews with both student and parents
Much work has been done in recent years to develop an objective means of assessing character in middle and high school admissions. The Enrollment Management Association (EMA), based in Princeton, New Jersey, has developed the Character Skills Snapshot (CSS) which is an online tool that examines seven essential character qualities of individual students.

Greenwood applicants don't need to take the Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT), but are required to complete the CSS. The CSS results are an objective tool that supplement other application requirements to help in assessing the development of character qualities. We want students who fit with our culture of character.

The CSS must be completed before the applicant family can book an interview.

Greenwood College School

443 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811
We acknowledge with gratitude the Ancestral lands upon which our main campus is situated. These lands are the Ancestral territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabek and the Wendake. The shared responsibility of this land is honoured in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty and as settlers, we strive to care for the land, the waters, and all creatures in the spirit of peace. We are responsible for respecting and supporting the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. When away from this campus we vow to be respectful to the land by protecting and honouring it. We will create relationships with the people and the land we may visit by understanding the territories we enter and the nations who inhabit them.
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