Fieldstone Day School was established in 1997 with just eight students in Kindergarten through Grade 6, in the basement of a church in midtown Toronto.
From the outset, Fieldstone was founded with a clear purpose: to create a school where students would be held to high academic standards and supported to exceed them. Our goal was to establish an environment where meaningful challenge and personal growth go hand in hand.
In the years leading up to our founding, we were influenced by the work of American educator E.D. Hirsch, whose concept of Cultural Literacy emphasised the importance of shared knowledge in fostering academic and social confidence. Drawing on Hirsch’s Core Knowledge curriculum, Fieldstone developed its own enriched programme—Global Knowledge—which incorporated French and reflected Canadian cultural context.
This early framework provided students with the tools to understand and engage in the broader conversations of their world, and it became one of our two founding pillars: academic rigour and fostering a strong self-esteem. We believed, and continue to believe, that students build genuine self-esteem by overcoming challenges in a supportive setting.
While Fieldstone has since transitioned to the internationally recognised Cambridge curriculum, the spirit of Global Knowledge—intellectual depth, cultural engagement, and high expectations—remains embedded in our educational philosophy. These values helped Fieldstone make its mark early on and continue to guide us as we prepare students to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
After two years in the church basement, the school moved to a larger, above-ground church facility, where it continued to thrive—growing to 150 students and welcoming its first cohort of high school learners.
As Fieldstone’s reputation for its dynamic curriculum and nurturing environment continued to grow, the need for a more permanent and purpose-built home became clear. In September 2001, the school relocated to a dedicated school building in Northwest Toronto, offering ample classroom space along with specialist facilities for gym, art, music, and drama.
It was in this new setting that Fieldstone established its full high school programme, moving steadily toward becoming a complete Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 institution. Just two years later, in June 2003, Fieldstone proudly celebrated the graduation of its first cohort of high school students, who went on to pursue their studies at university.
After more than a decade as a top private school in Toronto, Fieldstone had firmly established itself as a leader in both elementary and secondary education. Its lower school continued to thrive within its twin philosophy of Global Knowledge and a caring, nurturing environment, and the upper school became known as a top university-preparation institution, sending its graduates to the top universities in Canada and abroad. In 2009, in its ongoing pursuit of dynamic and global-focused curriculum, the school began a relationship with Cambridge International Examinations, through which it offered Cambridge courses from Grade 6 through 12. As part of this adoption of the Cambridge curriculum, the upper school was renamed Fieldstone King’s College School. The move to the Cambridge curriculum was a huge success, and in 2015, Fieldstone adopted this curriculum from Kindergarten right through to Grade 12.
From a handful of students in a church basement to a thriving Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in just a few short years, Fieldstone’s rise within Toronto’s independent school landscape has been both rapid and enduring.
From our early Global Knowledge framework to our current Cambridge International curriculum, Fieldstone has remained steadfast in its commitment to pairing academic depth with a caring and supportive teaching environment.
Today, Fieldstone and its students continue to make their mark—across Canada and around the world.