Hatfield Hall, private Residential School for Girls, opened its doors to receive the first boarders on September 17th, 1929. Miss W.M. Wilson, B.A., Honours, London, England and Miss W.M. Ellis, B.Sc., London, England were the co-principals and Rev. T. Stannage Boyle, D.D., D.C.L. was President of the Board of Trustees.
The Main House of the school was a large house built in 1879 by Colonel Chambliss and named "Hadfield Hurst". However, the Board of Trustees decided that "Hatfield Hall", the name of the residence of Queen Elizabeth I, was a more suitable name for a girl's school.
The stable of the Main House, known as the Lodge, was converted into a gymnasium with a dormitory and All Saints Chapel on the second floor. The Chapel was dedicated on November 1st, 1929 by the Lord Bishop of Toronto.
The third building was donated to the school in 1930 by the widow of Senator Clive Pringle in memory of her husband and was affectionately known as Mem House. Two tennis courts and a large playing field (now the site of St. Peter's Court Apartments) were part of this gift.
The curriculum was designed to develop the girls spiritually, intellectually, physically and socially. Following breakfast, the students had morning prayers conducted by Miss Wilson or Miss Ellis. Classes began at 9:00. At 10:30 a.m. came a 15 minute break when everyone not in the infirmary went outside for fresh air and tuck, which often consisted of toast and cocoa. Dinner was at 12:15 preceded by grace. Each mistress had her own table, and if it was a large table, a prefect was assigned to the other end. Table manners were closely watched.
The sports period was held from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The girls not scheduled for a specific sport went on long, brisk walks, regardless of the weather. St. Peter's gym was used for badminton and basketball and at suitable times of the year, golf was played at the local country club. For some years, swimming was available at Major David Dick's pool. Horse-back riding and skiing could be enjoyed by those girls interested in these sports. But the compulsory sports took place on the school property. Four courts were available for tennis, ground hockey, track and field events were held in the large playing field. Ice hockey was played in the winter.
Social events were happily anticipated. A party was always held in the gym on Hallowe'en. An Old Girl's Reunion was held in the fall, usually in conjunction with a basketball game against another private school. In November rehearsals began for the Christmas play which was presented annually in St. Peter's Upper Room for all the children in the parish. The Sixth Form play, often Shakespeare, was open to the public and in 1945 Barbara Hamilton made her acting debut as the drunken Stephano in "The Tempest".
The end of the school year was always referred to as the Closing. The: closing of 1949 was particularly poignant when the "Winns", as Miss Wilson and Miss Ellis were affectionately known, retired. The school continued for another two years, and closed in 1951.
In March of 1951, boys from the Ontario Training School at Galt came to Cobourg, exchanging places with the girls who had been here for some years previously.
For the next twenty years, Brookside School (as it came to be called) looked after up to 260 public school-age children who had been committed to training school from all over Ontario. It should be noted that the normal capacity was 175, but was often exceeded at times by pressure of numbers. These boys were lodged in four large houses, which had previously served mainly as summer residences.
In 1971, these boys began to include those who were in their first year of high school. The following year saw a dramatic change, with the move of the school from the old houses into the more modern cottages. This move finally meant the demolition of three of these old buildings.
In 1973 came yet another dramatic change, as Brookside School accepted its first girls, and became a co-educational facility. Since that time there have been many changes - some major, some minor: The range of education offered was expanded to cover the first two years in high school; the number of girls increased; and in 1978 Brookside began to be responsible for the full assessment of children committed to training school from within its region.
This region covers the lakeshore from Ajax to Kingston, in addition to the counties of Peterborough and Victoria & Haliburton, and includes 3/4 million people. Brookside admits all non-Catholic boys and girls committed from this area directly from the court, and holds them during their assessment. It also accepts children who may be referred to it from one of the Toronto assessment units.
The assessment period at Brookside is approximately five weeks long, and during this period the youngster is given a psychological, educational, medical, and behavioural assessment to determine whether they should remain at Brookside or whether a transfer to a community alternative would be preferable. If a decision is made to keep the youngster at Brookside, he may expect to stay an average of six months, depending upon his behaviour.
While at Brookside, the youngster will be in one of six cottages - with a total capacity of 110 - four of which are for boys, and two are for girls. Two of these cottages (one boy's, one girl's) are more secure units, and have the classroom in the same building. The remaining four cottages attend the same school, in which much emphasis is placed on individualized programmes.
In the cottages, each student has clearly stated expectations of his behaviour and responsibilities, and is held to these. His progress is marked daily for his own reference. The level of privilege and responsibility that any student is given is related to his response to the expectations that he has been subject to in the past. Each student's progress will be reviewed every […?]
