The York School - Operations
Guided by Our Mission
At The York School, we are here to nurture curious learners who will become globally minded leaders, young people who carry integrity, adaptability, and purpose into the world. Families seeking an education that is both future-forward and profoundly human will find it here.
As we proudly enter our seventh decade, we are not standing still. We are evolving with purpose, driven by our strategic plan, Embrace Curiosity, which was created with community consultation and guided by a deep commitment to putting students at the centre of every decision we make. At the core of this vision is our promise to deliver both the academic excellence and wellbeing support every student needs to flourish. We invite every parent, student, faculty, and staff member to explore this inspiring plan and join us in shaping our future.
The Best Teachers Make Exceptional Learning Happen: York’s Talent Recruitment & Retention Strategy
At The York School, your child is surrounded by remarkable teachers — inspiring, dedicated, compassionate educators who teach through relationships and who know how to ignite curiosity, build trust, and nurture students toward growth and discovery. Every classroom, whether inside our school or outdoors, becomes a vibrant learning community, ensuring students are challenged, supported and celebrated.
This excellence is no accident. It’s the result of our deliberate and ongoing investment in people. We recruit and retain the very best educators in one of Canada’s most competitive and costly cities, upholding our commitment to be among the top three independent schools in the GTA for faculty compensation.
Equally important, we’ve strengthened our operational infrastructure by recruiting expert leaders in Finance, HR, and External Relations — professionals who ensure our school’s long-term sustainability and success in Toronto’s highly competitive independent school landscape. Behind every great classroom experience and every wellbeing initiative is a great team working to secure The York School’s future.
What Does This Mean for Tuition?
The best education happens with a strong home-school partnership. So when you think about tuition at The York School, it’s helpful to think about it as an investment in the people and programs that shape your child’s education, growth, and happiness.
Roughly 80 cents of every tuition dollar goes directly to employee compensation — the foundation of our excellence in teaching, learning, and student care. The remaining 20 cents supports the essentials that make the school run smoothly: maintenance of facilities, programs, administration, technology, and food services.
What tuition doesn’t cover are the transformative “extras” that families want and students benefit from - like the Junior School Playground, the Wellbeing Centre, the Athletic Commons, and the endowment for needs-based bursaries. Like at other independent schools across Canada, these types of enhancements are possible only through the generosity of the school community and the success of our fundraising efforts.
Why Tuition Increases Matter
Across the GTA independent school landscape, the average annual tuition increase has been between 3% to 5%. Over the last decade, our school was an outlier in this regard, not keeping pace with the rest of our peer schools by keeping tuition artificially low. Simultaneously, however, we were raising employee compensation each year in order to maintain the stellar quality of teaching your child deserves and which your family expects. As you can predict, the gap between compensation and tuition got wider with each passing year; this, in turn, impacted our operating budget.
Guided and supported by our school’s Board of Directors, in January 2024, we made the difficult decision to finally close the gap by raising tuition for the 2024-2025 school by 9.3%. This “catch up strategy” was essential to allowing us to remain a Top Three Payer amongst CIS GTA schools.
What You Can Expect Each Year
Every January, when you receive the letter from Head of School, Struan Robertson and our Board Chair about re-enrolment and tuition for the coming year, we want you to understand the strategy behind those numbers. Just as the cost of living rises each year in Toronto, we must adjust teacher compensation to remain competitive and retain the exceptional educators who make York a place of academic challenge, emotional support, and joyful discovery. And this, in turn, impacts tuition.
As we look to the future, we welcome our shared commitment to your children’s academic growth, wellbeing, and success. Thank you for the trust you place in us and for being such an essential part of what makes York a place where students can flourish. Together, we are shaping a future full of possibility.
York’s New Vice-Principals
To provide a richer experience for our students and additional points of contact for families, we have recruited grade-specific Vice-Principals at both the Junior and Middle and Senior Schools. While the Vice-Principals work closely with their division leads, their roles are distinct.
Across the school, Vice-Principals play a key role in stewarding both the academic and student life experience. Each Vice-Principal is assigned to specific grade levels, allowing them to develop relationships and a deep understanding of the academic, social-emotional, and developmental needs of students at each stage.
Junior School
Vice-Principals serve a dual role as both school leaders and Primary Years Program (PYP) Coordinators for their respective grade assignments. This integrated structure ensures a seamless connection between curriculum leadership, student wellbeing, and day-to-day operations. Vice-Principals lead the planning and implementation of rich, inquiry-driven learning that encourages students to be principled, open-minded, and reflective learners.
Vice-Principals’ core responsibilities include:
Curriculum leadership: Facilitating regular planning meetings with teachers to co-design units of inquiry that align with IB standards and best practices in teaching and learning. These meetings address not only what is taught, but how students learn and how teachers can continually refine their practice.
Instructional support: Coaching and collaborating with faculty to cultivate a vibrant, student-centered learning environment grounded in inquiry, concept-based learning, and the IB Learner Profile attributes.
Student relationships and wellbeing: Being highly present in the life of the school, building strong relationships with students, and ensuring their emotional, academic, and social needs are met in developmentally appropriate ways.
Family engagement: Serving as a second point of contact, after teachers, for parents on matters related to learning and wellbeing. They foster a welcoming and transparent school-home partnership built on mutual trust and respect.
Behaviour and community culture: Leading with a proactive and restorative approach to discipline that promotes accountability, empathy, and community values.
Junior School Vice-Principals are:
JK to Grade 2: Ms. Meg Stephenson – mstephenson@yorkschool.com
Grades 3 to 5: Ms. Ashleigh Woodward – awoodward@yorkschool.com
Middle and Senior School
In partnership with faculty and advisors, Vice-Principals work to ensure students are supported in their learning and wellbeing. If parents have questions or concerns, we encourage them to first connect with the classroom teacher or advisor. Should further support be needed, the Vice-Principal is the next point of contact.
Vice-Principals also help uphold the school’s Code of Conduct, responding to minor behavioural concerns in alignment with our progressive discipline approach, one that emphasizes reflection, growth, and accountability. Through this work, they help foster a respectful, inclusive, and thriving school environment.
Middle and Senior School Vice-Principals are:
Grades 6, 7 and 8: Ms. Elise Currier - ecurrier@yorkschool.com
Grades 9 and 10: Mr. Fabio Biagiarelli - fbiagiarelli@yorkschool.com
Grades 11 and 12: Ms. Marie Aragona - maragona@yorkschool.com
Leadership & Governance Structures
The York’s School’s chief executive is its Head of School, Struan Robertson, who reports to a Board of Directors.
Operational Leadership Team
Board of Directors & Committees of the Board
The York School’s Board of Directors is made up of current and past parents, alumni, and independents. The chair and directors serve for three-year terms, and may be re-elected for another two consecutive three-year terms. Committee members serve for one-year terms, with re-election occurring on an annual basis. New directors are appointed each Fall during the school’s Annual General Meeting. There are 6 committees of the board, including Advancement, Audit, Finance, Governance, Premises, and Risk. Committees are composed of current and past parents and alumni.
Board of Directors (as of October 2025)
Trish McMahon, Chair
Kristin Blakely-Kozman, Chair, Advancement Committee
Michael Bowen
Brian Burke
Jessica Caplan Ross, Chair, Risk Committee
Alexis Charest-Descomme ‘13
Adrianna Czornyj, Chair, Governance Committee
Lou D’Souza, Chair, Finance Committee
Katie Gosnell ‘08
Jason Menkes
Helene Mersky
Alua Nurkeyeva
Erica O’Born
Ashley Russell
Kevin Salsberg, Chair, Premises Committee
Benjie Thomas
Julia Webster ‘05
Rob Weinberg