Road to Lauremont School Information Hub


FAQs about Lauremont School

This section is designed to help answer the frequently asked questions about Lauremont School.

If you have any questions that have not been addressed below, please reach out to Andrew Cross at strategicdirection@tmsschool.ca who would be happy to address your queries.

Be sure to also attend one of our many events where you will have a chance to speak with Andrew and other members of the school community. For a full list of events, including Coffee Chats with the Head, visit here.

 

1. Why are we changing the name of the School?

Comments about our school name, and its limitations, emerged as a strand in the various forms of community feedback. Awareness that the current name does not express the school’s physical location or full pedagogical offerings has been an ongoing conversation stretching back several years.

Those involved in this process had a clear vision and purpose for the name change: to add value and clarity to our school’s identity. The aim has been to make it more reflective of the current realities of our geography, pedagogy and age range of our students in order to foster our Strategic Goal of Inclusivity. In creating a name that contains elements of both the Montessori and IB strands, we believe we have accomplished this aim. Factors that were considered in deciding to make this change from TMS (Toronto Montessori Schools) include: (a) we are located in Richmond Hill, not Toronto; (b) we are no longer, since January 2010, exclusively a Montessori school; (c) our brand identity should accurately reflect who we are today: a school that offers a unique dual pedagogy that allows a child to experience our educational offerings from 18 months to 18 years.

2. When will the new name come into effect?

We will be officially adopting the new name – Lauremont School – in September 2024. Preparations for the name change will take place in the 2023-2024 school year.

3. How do you pronounce "Lauremont"?

Listen to the audio clip below to understand how to say the new name.

 

4. How do you explain the name change to Lauremont School?

The name TMS or Toronto Montessori Schools, while having an important and robust 60+ years of history, no longer reflects our geography or the full learning experience we offer. In creating a name that contains elements of both the IB (LAURE) and Montessori (MONT) strands, we have a name and brand that accurately reflects who we are today: a school that offers a unique dual pedagogy that allows a child to experience our educational offerings from 18 months to 18 years.

5. What does "Lauremont" mean?

The word “Lauremont” captures elements of both the International Baccalaureate and the Montessori philosophy within it, empowering us with a name that will reflect this very distinctive educational framework and learning environment. It will be the same great school with a name that belongs to everyone.

6. How will we acknowledge that we were TMS / Toronto Montessori School?

We remain fully committed to the Montessori philosophy and the program will continue to remain a core part of the school. The change of the school’s name is motivated by one aim: to better reflect the totality of our school community and programs, while still ensuring that we continue to promote and celebrate the Montessori program both within the school community and beyond.

We will also consider the use of a phrase like "continuing the tradition of TMS" on our website, publications and other materials.

7. What opportunities will there be for the community to provide feedback?

In the Open House sessions, parents and alumni asked about future opportunities to provide input on a range of topics. In addition to the Coffee Chats which will serve as mini focus groups to gather qualitative data, we have planned three surveys:

  1. Communications Survey to all parents in early September to gather updated feedback about communication preferences, use of social media, and the website. That input will help inform some of our decisions about our communications strategy.
  2. New Parents Survey to all new parents in the Fall to gather information about how parents would like to support the school through their Time, Talent and Treasure. This is a way to better understand the background and needs of new families.
  3. Year 1 in Review Survey to the community to gauge the outcomes of the strategic plan, focusing on communication and engagement as well as specific strategic work in progress/completed.

We also see a unique opportunity to engage our students in creating and submitting designs for ties and socks - in the new branding colours. This is a way for students to share their design skills and play a role in the look and feel of the uniform changes.

8. What is the plan for new Lauremont School uniforms?

We have been working with our uniform provider InSchoolWear to reimagine parts of the school uniform.

What won’t change

  • All of the major components of the uniform (kilt, blazer, pants, polo shirts, sweaters/cardigans) will remain unchanged.

What will be updated

  • Where there is currently a TMS crest, InSchoolWear will re-crest with the new Lauremont School name and logo. This applies to the blazer, pants, polos and sweaters. Please note that if you currently have a blazer that has the TMS crest or is blank with no crest, InSchoolWear will re-crest at no cost to you before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. More details about this will come in the Spring. 
  • We will be working with our students to help design fun items like new ties and socks. More details about this initiative will come during the next school year. 

What will be new

  • Our athletic gear will have some changes. While we will remain the Titans for our Athletics, the gym uniform and competitive team uniforms will be modified as follows:
  • Subtle changes to match the uniforms to the new school colours (blue and tan vs blue and gold)
  • Replacing TMS with Lauremont School
  • We are also exploring some new optional uniform items and spirit wear when the Lauremont School uniform is available


What is the timing for the new uniform?

  • Please note that the current TMS uniform will be in effect for the entire 2023/24 school year. InSchoolWear will continue to sell TMS uniforms as they have all items in stock.
  • The one change may be with our gym uniform as the stock may be used up during the year. To that end, we have asked InSchoolWear to replace with the same current uniform but without the TMS. This interim version will be fully acceptable for gym use across all parts of the school until your child graduates or it wears out!
  • We plan to provide a sneak peek at the uniform changes in February and the new uniforms will be available for purchase in May 2024.

How long can the current uniform be worn?

  • We acknowledge the investments that families have already made with the uniform. Once we officially change the name of the school in September 2024, students will be able to wear both the new Lauremont uniform or components of the current TMS uniform for the whole school year.
  • The new Lauremont School uniform will be mandatory for all students as of September 2025.

9. Will both TMS and Lauremont School be included on signage?

While we have heard from the community about having both names (TMS and Lauremont) on the signage at both campuses, we will only be including Lauremont School on our new signage. We don’t want to create confusion and we do need to allow the Lauremont School name and branding to stand on its own. We are working on the designs for the new signs and we promise they will be attractive, visible, and very much in keeping with the brand of the school.

For the same reasons we will not be renaming the campuses to reflect the two pedagogies. We will continue to refer to them as Lower School and Upper School.

10. Will there be a transition name for the first year?

We did seek legal advice about this issue. Based on that, we were advised not to have a transition name (i.e., TMS-Lauremont) as it could create significant amounts of confusion to current and new parents, staff, the external community and third parties (i.e. contractors, suppliers, etc).

When we start the 2024-2025 school year, it will only be as Lauremont School. However, we will include a line such as “…continuing the legacy of TMS” on our website, stationery and school publications.

11. How will you keep us informed and engaged?

It was great to learn from the community survey that parents feel that they are getting clear, coherent and timely information about their child's progress, what their child is learning and how to best support them from home. However, the survey also highlighted gaps in our communication, including:

  1. Instances where parents felt under communicated while at other times feeling there were too many communications.
  2. Needing greater transparency in communications, especially around operational elements.

On the flip side, parents and other community members also expressed the need for and interest in getting more involved with the school, whether it be to volunteer at events or to be more actively involved in helping to create initiatives.

We want to strike the right balance on both our communications and engagement opportunities. Here are some ways we will address both areas and ensure there is a good balance:

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Survey our community to understand our community, what channels they prefer, and how often they like to hear from the school on a number of issues.
  2. Streamline content and how audiences are able to consume that content. This Road to Lauremont section is an example of these efforts, allowing us to effectively organize information that our community can easily find.
  3. Personalize more content where possible to meet the needs of individuals. 

ENGAGEMENT

  1. Communicate opportunities through which parents can getinvolved, including event committees, parent ambassador roles and attending school curriculum nights. 
  2. During the 2023-24 school year, we will be hosting additional informal events with the Head of School and Academic Heads that can be used to discuss various aspects of the strategic direction and name change, as well as mini focus groups on topics like uniforms or fundraising.