Mission
A student’s words stayed with Principal Katie Doering. They also explain why the Ronald McDonald House Toronto School matters.
“A teenager once told me, ‘Continuing in school tells me I have a future,’” says Katie Doering, Principal of Ronald McDonald House Toronto School and Ronald McDonald House Toronto’s Chief Program Officer.
The words have stayed with her.
For children receiving medical care — and for their siblings — illness can interrupt nearly every familiar part of life. Families may leave their homes and communities with little notice. Daily routines begin to revolve around appointments, treatment and test results. Children are separated from their schools, teachers and friends, sometimes for weeks or months.
Continuing to attend school gives them something important to count on.
“School is such an important part of family life,” says Beth Alexander, who recently joined the School team as the Director of Education and Family Programs. “It’s a way to celebrate growth and the passage of time, an important respite for caregivers, and a place where kids develop an independent world separate from their families.”
Beth has been struck by the way educators build full learning days in the face of uncertainty. They respond to changing family needs, class sizes and grade levels while still teaching students how to read, conduct science experiments and make friends.
It is, she says, a place where “the magical and the mundane live side by side.”
It is also a place where families can still mark familiar milestones. Beth is grateful that the School gives parents an opportunity to take a “first day” photograph, even when their family is facing enormous challenges.
Ronald McDonald House Toronto operates a private school for children staying at the House. Its programs include a JK–Grade 8 classroom, School Readiness for children ages two-and-a-half to four, and EASEL (Engaging Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) which provides individualized support for students from Kindergarten through Grade 12.
During the 2025–26 school year, 116 students learned through the School’s programs. Some attended for a short time. Others remained for much of the year. Students may begin at any point in the school calendar, bringing different curricula, interests, abilities and experiences with them.
That means their educators must be ready to welcome a new student and create a sense of belonging from the beginning.
“Any day of the week could be a first day of school for our students,” says Ciana Henderson, a teacher who has taught at the School for more than three years. “We adapt by incorporating interest-based learning, leading with an understanding that every child brings a heavy emotional backpack, and creating a learning space that is not just physically accessible, but emotionally accessible.”
In the first few days, educators listen and observe. A T-shirt featuring a favourite superhero, a conversation about a TikTok video or a student’s reaction during a lesson can offer a way to connect. Those details help teachers understand what makes each student feel interested, comfortable and seen.
The first priority is safety.
“My biggest hope is always that they feel safe from day one,” says Ciana. “Being able to go to school when so many other things are changing or uncertain means routine — and something families, both students and parents, can count on in even the most stressful of times.”
For younger children, that stability often begins with play.
Cindy Yang, an Early Childhood Educator at the School, says play and self-regulation are deliberately built into the Kindergarten day. When children can explore at their own pace, they regain a measure of control and predictability. They also begin to work through difficult emotions and build relationships with adults and children who are ready to understand and support them.
Cindy remembers one student who arrived feeling discouraged and not wanting to attend. By the end of the first day, the student said they loved the School and couldn’t wait to return.
Not long afterward, that same student hesitantly joined a recess dance performance. Encouraged by teachers and classmates, they began to dance “like they owned the stage.”
For Cindy, the transformation reflected what can happen when a child feels seen, supported and free to be themselves. “They knew they belonged,” she says.
That sense of belonging also comes from meeting other children who understand experiences that can be difficult to explain elsewhere.
Zoe Webster, a teacher at the School, sees it during morning meetings. Students begin by choosing magnets from a feelings chart to show how they are doing that day. They can select more than one emotion and share as much or as little as they want.
A student might say they feel sad because their sibling is in the hospital. Another child may respond that their brother is there, too. Soon, students are talking with peers who understand what it means for family life to include hospitals, appointments and treatment.
During one morning meeting, a student receiving radiation therapy shared that they had designed a treatment mask to look like Minecraft.
Another student immediately replied: “Hey! I got to design one of those for my radiation too! Mine is Spider-Man!”
“For a few minutes, these children are not explaining their circumstances to someone who has never experienced anything like them,” Zoe says. “They are simply talking to peers who just get it.”
For older students, continuing school can also protect their academic progress and their connection to friends at home.
Jermin Bates, Education Program Coordinator, works with students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 in the EASEL program. One moment, she may be playing a shape game with a Kindergarten student; shortly afterward, she may be teaching calculus to a Grade 12 student.
Lessons change according to what each student needs that day. A planned math class may become a quieter session when a student arrives tired after a morning of appointments. One-on-one and small-group instruction allows educators to meet students where they are while helping them continue working toward their goals.
Jermin notices that once students feel comfortable, more of their personalities emerge.
“They begin to get more silly, or open up about things happening in their lives,” she says. “This becomes a place where they just get to be.”
That matters because school is not only where children complete assignments. It is where they develop interests, gain independence, form friendships and begin to imagine what comes next.
When students return to their schools and communities, Katie hopes they carry those friendships with them — and something more.
“I hope they take with them the feeling of knowing that they had people in their corner, unconditionally,” she says. “People who believed in them, encouraged them and supported them.”
Ciana hopes they leave knowing they can do hard things — even something as difficult as beginning a new school in the middle of the year.
And perhaps they leave with the same knowledge one teenager shared with Katie: continuing in school means continuing to have a future.
Now, donations to Ronald McDonald House Toronto’s Back-to-School campaign will be matched by Saputo, up to $40,000. Your gift helps ensure that children receiving medical care — and their siblings — can continue learning, building friendships and looking ahead.