RUNNING HEAD: The Greater Community

The Greater Community Assignment

Professor Nidhi Menon
Carmen Yuen
500702866
CLD 262-041
Monday, November 7, 2016

RUNNING HEAD: The Greater Community

The geographical community that my placement site is a part of is in the west end of
Toronto in the Carleton Village community. It has always been a working class neighbourhood
and was selected as a historical district by the City of Toronto (Toronto Neighbourhood Guide,
n.d., para 1). My placement site is located in the considered to be rough and not-so-well-off St.
Clair Avenue West and Old Weston Road area with a number of students that come from hardworking single-parent households (Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d., para 1).
The students who attend the school, some as young as 10 years old return to empty homes and
are left to take on household responsibilities rather than do homework until their lone parents
come back from work (Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d., para 2). The
principal called Carleton Village one of the more needy schools that are seen in the city
(Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d., para 3). The 2006 Census reported that
out of the 1,665 families who live in the area, 26% are lone-parent households. According to the
Fraser Institute, parents bring in about an average of just slightly over $34,000 a year. In 2011
and 2012, the school was on the list of the 10 poorest-performing schools in Toronto with a
ranking of 1.7 out of 10, with 58% of its students writing below the standard in the EQAO
testing in 2011(Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d., para 4).
The school does reflect its community with about 30% of its students being of Caribbean
or African decent. The school does have a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Somali and
Vietnamese as well (Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d., para 5). There are
many families who live within walking distance of the school, with some who drive their
children to and from school. Since the French Immersion Program started this year, there is also
a school bus that picks only those children up and bring them to school. There is also a high

RUNNING HEAD: The Greater Community

crime rate in this St. Clair Avenue West and Old Weston Road area with a shooting incident that
happened several years ago and one that occurred around four weeks ago on St. Clair West.
Through knowing about the geographic and demographic community affected my
understanding of the children, and families that my placement site serves. I did not know that this
community was considered to be so rough and not very well off. I have more of a negative
thinking towards this neighbourhood. I have more of a feeling that it may be unsafe for children
and families due to a high crime rate in the area. The community is somewhat culturally diverse
with most families being of Caribbean or African decent with a mix of some who are Chinese,
Vietnamese, Somali, Portuguese and Spanish. The socioeconomic status of parents is low since
there are single-parent households. There are also many parents struggling to put food on the
table who sign up for after-hours child-education workshops (Fraser Report: Carleton Village
Public School, n.d., para 8). Even though I also see that there are many difficulties in academic
achievement, the school offers several programs to engage its students. There is an after-school
homework program for older students, and another homework program for grades 2 to 5 through
partnerships with two nearby community centres. There is also a weekly tutoring program geared
towards reading, writing and math, and extracurricular activities are offered as well (Fraser
Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d., para 9).
The information that I now know regarding the community has furthered my
understanding in seeing how supportive the school is. I understand and can see how hard the
families work to provide for their children. The school ensures that its students have the
resources they need to succeed. Families are provided access to the community centres in the
neighbourhood, the parenting and family literacy centre, and daycare at the school. Not every
family is on the same socioeconomic level and not all families are able to provide the basic

RUNNING HEAD: The Greater Community

necessities for their children. The families that have older siblings have the responsibilities to
take the younger siblings to school and bring them back home because the parent or parents need
to work. All families require support to be able to help their children succeed in school and help
them get the best experiences out of their education.
Some assumptions or biases that I have about the geographic and demographic
community is that it looked like it was a wealthy school. I looked up where my placement site
was located and it was in the far west end. The school has a swimming pool, a basketball court,
and a large field that had a baseball diamond and goal posts. My very first assumption was that
my placement site is very wealthy because I saw how many sports facilities that it provides.
However, another assumption that I made was that this school is actually more run-down and
needy because I saw that there is a vast majority of African Canadian and Caucasian individuals
when I went inside. I felt that the school was not very diverse and somewhat unsafe. There tends
to be associations of crime and fights seen between these specific individuals in our society. I am
biased because I grew up attending a school that was run-down with a majority of these
individuals where there were many families living in government housing. The ECE in my
placement site had some assumptions about the community as well. She said that many children
in the area have around two to three siblings. There are some families that have many children.
The community is not as poor as it was before and that the school is very supportive of everyone.
I think that these assumptions or biases negatively affect the image of the community and
more specifically to the operation of my placement site because of the majority of the population
being African Canadian and Caucasian. The community would be seen as unsafe and not very
multicultural or diverse. The school would need to rely on many programs to be able to engage

RUNNING HEAD: The Greater Community

its students and boost their school spirits (Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School, n.d.,
para 8).
The strengths of the families in the community are that many families are very
understanding of each other. The families are empathetic, respectful and supportive of each other
as well. They know to provide resources and programs that are offered within the school and
community that other families may be unaware of. They have very good relationships with many
other families. Often times, there would be a parent who would help pick up the child from
school if the childs parents are unable to. There would be children who go home with their
classmates after-school or on the weekends for play dates. My placement site can maximize
these strengths through providing more gatherings and events that parent and families can attend.
Parents can get to know one another more and have more interactions with them regularly. For
example, having school council meetings where parents can meet other parents and freely
express their needs and what they feel is best for their children and for the school.

RUNNING HEAD: The Greater Community

References
Fraser Report: Carleton Village Public School. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2016, from
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/02/fraser-report-carleton-village-public-school
Toronto Neighbourhood Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2016, from
http://www.torontoneighbourhoods.net/neighbourhoods/west-end/carleton-village