page_title: Sunnybrook School (Toronto)
section_title: Move to Merton Street
hierarchical_section_title: Sunnybrook School (Toronto) / History / Move to Merton Street
caption_attribution_description: English: A photo of the first purpose-built building of Sunnybrook School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Photo was taken on Merton Street during the early 1960s.
context_page_description: Sunnybrook School is a coeducational, private elementary school offering Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6, with one class per grade. Founded in 1952 as one of Toronto’s first Preschools, Sunnybrook is located on a residential street in North Toronto, specifically in the Mount Pleasant West area of Davisville Village west of Bayview Avenue. Sunnybrook School has been family-run for over 60 years. In April 1999, Sunnybrook School became Canada’s first English speaking school to implement the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. In 2002, Sunnybrook School became the first authorized IB PYP school in Canada outside of Quebec.
  Since 1960, the school has occupied its own purpose built premises, which have been renovated and enlarged three times.
context_section_description: In 1960 the school moved to the present 469 Merton Street location, which borders on Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The new, purpose-built facility on Merton Street was funded by loans from parents of students. In 1960, Sunnybrook School had 65 students in 5 classes and was the first “privately operated nursery school in the city in a building designed for the job.” In 1967 the school had 94 students and a staff of 20, with 12 teachers. With housing prices increasing and more women and mothers pursuing careers of their own, the nursery school filled a growing need not only for morning child-care but also for all-day services. The all-day services provided a “planned learning program” and also included “‘real tea’ at 4p.m., complete with sandwiches, to stay [the students] until dinner. Unlike morning pupils, many all-day pupils [had] mothers who work[ed], who [couldn’t] get dinner ready by 6 o’clock.”
  The founding director of Sunnybrook School, Irmingard Hoff, was also President of the Nursery Education Association of Ontario (NEAO). In the 1960s, “one of the [NEAO’s] primary objectives [was] to qualify teachers to train ‘exceptional’ or ‘handicapped’ children.” To this end, the NEAO coordinated with “the Ontario government to set up teaching courses in universities and community colleges.” During a 1967 speech, Hoff promised to increase the number of certified nursery teachers in Ontario from 190 to 800 within five years.
  Since 1960 the Sunnybrook School facility on Merton Street has undergone three expansions.
caption: Sunnybrook School's original purpose-built facility on Merton Street, circa 1960.
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