This website is a project of the ALPHA II Alternative Parent Community Council. ALPHA II operates as an alternative school of the Toronto District School Board, and the only publicly funded freeschool school in Canada, possibly the world. Read more about what freeschooling is! We are located at Bloor Collegiate Institute, a school within a school, which was torn down, rebuilt and recently re-opened in 2025. The new building is an innovative design for a school building; having reimagined communal and multi-use spaces. You can read more about it in this feature article on page 47. 

 

Is it Alpha II or Alpha 2? You may be wondering. Originally, and currently, the school’s official name is Alpha II Alternative. However, since many people search google for “Alpha 2 Alternative” we decided to sprinkle a bit of that here as well, for Google’s search benefit.

 

The Parent Community Council is ALPHA II’s version of a Parent Council. It includes all parents, mentees and mentors that want to participate, and is parent led. We meet throughout the school year to hear from our children and their mentors about what has been happening in the classroom, and what they might want help with from the parent community. We also organize school wide events that build our community into more than just a classroom.

 

Some things we’ve done before: arrange holiday or social events like potlucks, parent meetups to learn about self-directed learning and unschooling, applying for grants to fund activities that involve parents in the classroom, update the ALPHA II Parent Handbook, and funding ALPHA II’s yearly “Coffee House,” an end of year culminating event showcasing student work. We also work on administrative tasks set out by the TDSB for Parent Councils, such as updating our School Statement of Needs. 

 

Please visit ALPHA II Alternative for more information.