News Archive

This year during the Day of Service, the boys and I were so lucky to find ourselves at The Depanneur, a fun informal venue that celebrates the diversity of Toronto’s culinary talent through unique food events. It’s also the home of Newcomer Kitchen, a non-profit social enterprise that invites Syrian refugee women to prepare and sell meals.

The U15 hockey team travelled to Halifax to play in the Armbrae Academy tournament and came back as champions. After six games in two days, the Knights defeated Sacred Heart 3-0 in the final. 

Imagine the disillusionment of a military commander faced with repeatedly sending his men over the top to their deaths. The 1929 play, Journey’s End, captured the collective reflection of a nation looking back and seeing what has become of a generation after The Great War. 

I was scrolling through my social media feeds recently and came across a Me to We video highlighting a familiar place. “Not Your Average Music Video” shows a lively group of Maasai Mara women celebrating the completion of the Baraka Hospital, while showcasing a tour of the facility. Memories of the service learning trip we took to Kenya came rushing back. 

The Halifax hockey team wasn’t the only one to come home victorious. The U14 basketball team was crowned champion at the Selwyn House tournament in Montreal. 

The U13 and Senior teams went to Vancouver and Victoria for the CAIS soccer tournament, where they had some valuable bonding time training and sightseeing. Hear from some Junior and Senior boys what they thought about spending time together!

RSGC’s partnership with Tokai University Gyosei High School continues. During the second week of school, these guests came from Hirataka City, Japan and spent time with the boys.

Another construction-filled summer meant that the boys returned to another exciting new space.

A new partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Concussion Centre is taking RSGC’s concussion program to a new level.

It was a successful year for athletics at Royal St. George’s College. Read on for some highlights! 

When Jon Bell ’04 started at Royal St. George’s College in Grade 4, he had no hair. It wasn’t a fashion statement – he was battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), otherwise known as cancer of the white blood cells. 

For the second straight year, the boys in Grade 7 have had one hour every four days to dedicate to their passion. The Passion Project allows the boys to pick a topic of their choosing, focus on it all year long and present it at the year-end showcase to parents and Junior School boys.

For almost a decade, Royal St. George’s College has been partnering with St. Thomas’s Anglican Church on Huron St. to help put on the Friday Food Ministry dinner for the homeless and marginally housed. 

Julie Girvan started working at Royal St. George’s College in January of 2004. Fresh out of teacher’s college, she was an eager, bright-eyed biology teacher. 

When Gill von Teichman made the decision to send her eldest son, Desmond ’90, to RSGC back in the 1980s, she had no idea that the school would have such a huge impact on her entire family. 

Thanks to the tremendous support of our community, we have exceeded our Annual Fund goal of $600,000. 

On April 28, the RSGC community joined together to plan, prepare and serve a meal to the homeless at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church as part of the Friday Food Ministry program. 

It’s rush hour here at the Dragon’s Lair. Boys are piling in through the door, urgently needing stuff – wall balls, speedcubes, gloves, earbuds, deodorant. First thing in the morning, it’s normal for a boy to rush in needing a new shirt, tie, flannels, belt, socks, gym clothes – or in one case, an entire Senior School uniform. As a parent, this horrifies me, but I say nothing.

Six days a year, the Grade 7 boys head to the kindergarten and the Grade 1 classes at Lord Dufferin and Our Lady of Lourdes schools. They take part in a special Reading Buddy partnership that is now in its third year. 

Since 2015-16, RSGC has been part of a small group of schools that offers the AP Capstone™ two-year diploma program for Grade 11 and 12 students based on two foundational courses, AP Seminar and AP Research. 

Thank you to all who joined us for the Around the World in 80 Bites Gala at The Carlu on April 29. 

Ultimate Frisbee made its debut as a spring sport at RSGC this year, with the Georgian Knights and the Branksome Frogs teaming up to form the co-ed FRIGHT. 

Senior Master Chris D’Arcy, who has been a teacher at RSGC for 40 years, was recently honoured with the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence, one of only 25 teachers across the country to be given the annual award as a top educator in the country.

On March 11, a group of eight students and two teachers departed on a trip to Iceland. The students ranged from Grades 9 to 11 and were accompanied by Mr. Chow and Ms. Bader-Shaw. Each student participating had their own reasons for embarking on this journey: the unique Icelandic environment; visiting and revisiting a new country; and trying new things. 

Long distance travel is an overwhelming experience for anyone, whether you are a student, teacher or chaperone, and travelling to the Far East is no small feat. You spend 14 hours on a flight and when you arrive, the text is in another language, you’re not able to read it and the script is nothing like what you are used to. 

The cast of this year’s Junior School play, The Golden Ticket, delighted the crowd for three performances in the Black Box Theatre, but it was the boys behind the scenes who ensured that the show went off without a hitch.

There’s a club for every interest at RSGC, from outdoor games and fitness to robotics and cooking. And for those boys who are avid readers, there is the Kids Lit Quiz club, which includes the added bonus of competition. 

When RSGC reached out to our drama teacher Kristy Smith last November inviting students to audition for their Senior School production of Macbeth, both Morgan Madonik and I were eager to audition. 

I don’t particularly remember why I started doing talent shows or why I continue to do them after my first experience. They are the most stressful, nerve-wracking, limit-testing things I can imagine – and for some reason, Hidden Gems is even more so.

Thanks to the initiative and leadership of Head Boy Conor Commons, the College has its first swim team in decades. The first season was a success, with six CISAA medals and six boys heading to OFSAA.  

The boys in Grade 6 recently held a Food Fair, during which they shared an item of food that they cooked or baked.

It’s a well known fact that ball hockey has been part of Georgian culture for decades. The Senior School’s ball hockey league is a popular afterschool activity and, thanks to some dedicated people, the Junior School ball hockey league is also thriving.

The boys in the Grade 9 Enriched French and Grade 10 French programs recently completed a unit on art that culminated in a visit to the Mystical Landscapes exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

In a new concept for Mental Health and Wellness Week this year, RSGC staff and students Started the Day off Right. In the Junior School, boys spent the first period of the day meditating, sleeping in, playing outside, eating a healthy breakfast or engaging in a workshop on stress and anxiety. In the Senior School, the boys chose from activities like sleeping in, yoga, fitness, dog therapy, work time in the library, massage, breakfast or meditation.

If there were an I in team at RSGC, it might stand for Intellectual. In the last five years, the College’s athletic offerings have been increasingly complemented by extracurricular competitions intended to challenge students’ intellectual capacities.

Upon completion of a one-year general cook’s apprenticeship and an Italian culinary program at George Brown College, Fraser Macfarlane ’94 picked up a copy of Toronto Life magazine and began researching the city’s top restaurants. That search led him to cold-call Keith Froggett, the chef at Scaramouche, but he had no idea that it would forever change the course of his life.

When you see Pearse O’Malley walking down the halls of RSGC, slight and unassuming, you would never guess that his passion for baking not only takes up most of his spare time, but also fills the pages of The Grifter, the College’s online student publication.