Gifted program in Michael Cranny

You should try connecting to the parent council there (every school in Ontario has a parent council) and ask them to connect you to some parents at that school.

As a teacher and someone who went through the gifted program as a student, I shared some of my insights, experiences and opinions on the gifted program in general here - december-kids-your-experience-jk-2162779/2/#p28836218. There was also a discussion about the gifted program in York Region here - gifted-school-york-region-2138877/4/

To summarize - as a student I found it difficult to go to school in an area away from home. I lived at Lawrence/DVP and I went to school at Leslie/York Mills for Grades 4-6 and then Bayview/York Mills for Grades 7-8. My family moved to Maple and I attended Richmond Hill High School. I had friends, but I felt that my friendships and connections weren't as strong as the others since they would all hang out after school, walk home, walk to the plaza etc. whereas I got myself on the TTC/YRT and went home. The kids in my neighbourhood had their friends from school and the kids at school had their friends from their neighbourhood.

In terms of the program itself, it really comes down to the individual student and their teachers. I've taught students identified as gifted in a non-gifted classroom and it's just a matter of providing them with the accommodations indicated in their IEPs the same way I would accommodate a student with LD or ASD etc. I've also found while working at Henderson Ave that there was intense competition within the gifted class and between the gifted and non-gifted classrooms to the point that the intermediate gifted team decided not to release any marks to students and rather send them directly to parents. I didn't experience that level of competition, but it certainly did affect me when I moved from an environment in which I was doing well to an environment in which I felt I had to do even more just to keep up with the level of my peers.

In terms of Michael Cranny specifically, I did work at that school 10 years ago but I was in a special needs community class that provided service at a regional level so I wasn't really involved in the school community as much. It's an early start school so that might be different from what you're used to. School starts at 8:15 and dismissal is at 2:35. Depending on how far away you are from the school, your child may need to be picked up before 8:00 am and dropped off at home before 3:00 pm. From what I remember at the time it's in a nice neighbourhood with a mix of cultures and a relatively high socio-economic status. The staff were happy and the school had a positive vibe to it. I've never worked with the principal, Ritchie McNaughton, before but I have heard colleagues speak positively of him. He's very experienced and has been a principal for something like 18 or 20 years.

Of course, a lot can change over a decade, but definitely take @JHW's advice and reach out to the school council and speak with parents about their experiences.

Terala wrote: ↑ Hi there,
I would like to know more about the gifted classes in Michael Cranny PS, Vaughan. It would be great if somebody shares their experience. Is it worth the move from the regular program?
I was told also that the kids have to move to another school after 6th grade.
Thanks.

What exactly would you like to know?

My 2 kids were going to the regular program (in another school in York region), and after the test or assessment, they qualified for the gifted program, and now both of them attend this Cranny school.

You can send me a direct message if you prefer.

Hi,
I am parent of gr5 kid and i have confusion right now to choose between Gifted school (contained class = only gifted student in it) vs IB middle school for my kid from Gr6.
This is in peel region. I went through pros and cons and your thread as well. However, it was more about gifted not in comparison to IB middle school.
Our gifted school is nearer than IB. I can gather so far info and gist i have is,
If kids wants to be well rounded IB is good, where lot of extra subjects and amount of work they will have
while in Gifted school they will challenge kids by giving tasks in increasing magnitude based on kids capacity. Kids may like it or not like it or they may coop up with or not
In IB also kids will have great amount of work which they may be overwhelmed .
Second point is IB is paid in many sense while Gifted is purely public school type.
If you can guide or advise little bit will help from your past experience.

Many thanks,