His fiery red hair dishevelled and his forest-green school sweater slightly rumpled, five-year-old Ryan Mason darts around the newly renovated atrium lobby and main floor of the Giles School as if he owns the prestigious private institution in suburban Toronto.
Most children Ryan's age would just now be getting their feet wet in the school system, but the energetic youngster is already in his third year of full-day learning at the co-ed French immersion school, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2009 on grander grounds.
This month, the 160 students — ranging from age 2 1/2 (pre-kindergarten) to Grade 12 — moved from the basements of two churches to a three-storey building in North York.
Because of the extensive renovations of the former industrial building, classes at the Giles School opened on Sept. 22.
But while it was three weeks behind the start of term at other schools, some say the institution founded by French-immersion guru Harry Giles is years ahead in its educational and socialization approaches.
On this early September day, Ryan and his mom, Venessa Kerman, were among the parents, students and school staff who were interviewed as construction workers put the finishes touches on the premises. (Despite the late start of term, child care has been available all month.)
Ryan is now in pre-K, and already has lofty goals.
"I will get to speak to the people who live in France," says the eldest son of Ms. Kerman, who works at a financial institution, and Shane Mason, who works in information security in the energy field.
The school is built on such learning pillars as early education, small class sizes and bilingual and third-language training. Students take French as early as pre-K, and Mandarin or Japanese as early as Grade 1.
And the Giles School is unusual in the private school world in that it enrolls students on a first-come, first-served basis.
Mr. Giles, legendary founder of the Toronto French School in 1962 and a pioneer of French immersion in Canada, says he never wanted it said that his school's top-grade standings were "as a consequence of creaming off the best students."
By taking children on a first-come, first-served basis, Mr. Giles says, the school has a normal mix of students, some of whom might be gifted and some of whom might have learning problems. Students "would come to the school in preschool and, by Grade 3, end up operating two or three or four years beyond the norms," he says.
"They also ended up becoming nice people. That's terribly important to me."
Ms. Kerman, also mother of 20-month-old Alexander and head of the Giles School's parent-teacher association, proudly rhymes off Ryan's achievements in a learning environment that may be a greater financial burden — tuition is in the $13,000-a-year range — but that she believes will give her son a step up in the working world.
"He just finished junior kindergarten and he's not just writing letters, but also script," says Ms. Kerman. "He can count to a couple of hundred, and on his own he has started reading. ¡K We started noticing he'd start reading labels on cereal boxes, for example, and anywhere else he finds a word — whether it's English or French, he looks at these words and reads them, breaking them down, sounding them out."
Day in and day out, headmaster Kemp Rickett hears expressions of gratitude from parents like Ms. Kerman who are thankful for the little French-immersion private school that grew.
Mr. Rickett beams with pride during a tour of the remodelled building, which has 31,000 square feet of space. He points out such features as huge windows that allow natural light to filter in, and spare areas on the top floor that will accommodate growing enrolment.
"We are kind of like goldfish," he chuckles. "We had grown to the size of our container. We needed to move to a site that unifies us and gives us an opportunity for expansion.
