Four years after they were launched as a way to boost numbers and spice up programming, Toronto’s boutique-style specialty elementary schools are struggling to catch on.

The smallest — the “girls’ leadership academy” — has just 17 students across five grades. While specialty programs are often cosy, this earnest little school named after Jean Augustine, Canada’s first black female Member of Parliament, has fewer students now than when it began with 25 girls, even though it has added two more grades.

Of the four cutting-edge “elementary academies” opened in 2012 under former director Chris Spence — one for girls, one for boys and two for those who like to sing — only one has more than 100 students enrolled from Grade 4 to 8. With little publicity from Toronto District School Board headquarters to tell people they exist, these experiments in specialized learning may have been doomed to flounder.

“Enrolment is a challenge, especially with the girls’ program, and location is certainly one of the challenges,” conceded Manon Gardner, the TDSB’s executive superintendent of school improvement.

Three of the schools-within-a-school are in sleepy neighbourhoods far from the subway and away from a main street, in schools that happened to have empty space, roughly one in each corner of the city.

The all-boy leadership academy in Rexdale is the largest, with 130 students, but most of the boys come from The Elms Junior Middle School, in which it is housed, making that host school virtually all-girl by default.

The Downtown Vocal Music Academy, inside Ryerson Public School, has 68 students, but was rocked by internal tension last year over incidents of student vandalism. Parents were divided, school morale took a hit and the entire staff transferred out over the summer, leaving a new slate of teachers, principal and vice-principal to start fresh this year.

Only the vocal music school in Scarborough named for Canadian tenor Ben Heppner seems to draw students from outside the neighbourhood; some commute from Pickering and Markham, many with dreams of qualifying for star-studded arts high schools. The proud, high-energy school enters choral competitions, sings at nursing homes and has performed on morning television, yet enrolment sits at about 70 students.

As free magnet schools, they generate little buzz — yet expensive private single-sex schools and choir schools have waiting lists.

Some say it’s a tough sell to persuade families to send their elementary children out of their neighbourhood without busing, although many do it for private schools. At Ben Heppner Vocal Music Academy, about a dozen families split the cost of hiring a school bus to drive their kids to school, but not everyone can afford that option.

“We don’t provide busing to the elementary academies or alternative schools, so if they’re not on a TTC route, most elementary students will come from very close to the school,” said TDSB superintendent Shirley Chan.

Nor does the TDSB typically promote any one school over another, noted Gardner, and dozens of small alternative programs have flourished for decades. But the four new elementary academies are unfamiliar models to TDSB parents — single-sex and singing academies — and may have needed help getting on people’s radar.

While the programs are up for review by the TDSB in about two years, Gardner said the small numbers at the girls’ school may prompt earlier study, and did not rule out the possibility of asking the school to consider a move.

Tucked upstairs in Highland Heights Public School, near Finch Ave. and Birchmount Rd., the girls’ program — which focuses on women and leadership through curriculum and extra activities — has two full-time teachers for 17 students; one for the 12 in Grade 4/5/6 (three students in Grade 4, three in Grade 5, six in Grade 6) and one for the Grade 7/8 class of five.

“If we do group work by grade, the groups will always be the same. Always,” noted Iram Ashfaq, who teaches Grade 4/5/6. “I feel the program has a lot to offer girls, but the drawback is there’s not that many students.”

Yet not everyone finds the small numbers a problem.

“It’s a great opportunity to be in a small class — in private schools you have to pay to get this one-to-one education,” said Grade 7 student Zoya Khan, 13, of the girls’ school, which she has attended since it opened. “I like being with girls; I feel like it’s easier to make friends. We can relate; we all have the same problems.”

But small numbers can skew standardized test scores, noted Kien Luu, the new principal of the Downtown Vocal Music Academy, where only 5 per cent of the Grade 6 class met provincial math standards on the Education Quality Accountability Office (EQAO) assessment two years ago.

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“When a Grade 6 class is so small (there are just 10 students in Grade 6 this year, for example) a weak performance by one or two students can have a big impact on the class result,” said Luu, who has brought in a teaching coach for the Grade 6 class and urges students to seek extra help.

Brian Bennett is principal of the Ben Heppner Vocal Music Academy in Heather Heights Public School, near Ellesmere and Scarborough Golf Club Rds.

“If we had more students it would be wonderful, but we have three classes and we’re very sustainable,” he said. “It’s about quality, not quantity, and these kids want to be here.”

THE SCHOOLS

Jean Augustine Girls’ Leadership Academy

Students talk about women’s issues, read female authors and run a monthly school character assembly. At the Jean Augustine Girls’ Leadership Academy, “we try to offer girls the opportunity to build leadership skills and self-confidence at an early age,” says teacher Jacqueline Smith. Grade 7 student Aravi Shanmugalingam notes that “a girls’ class is really understanding, even when you say something wrong.” But Grade 5 student Ryeann Rivers says she sometimes misses the boys: “because they always want to win. They’re competitive. And we have trouble getting work done because we’re always talking — ’cause it’s all girls.”

Boys’ Leadership Academy

He’s got the boys. Now principal Craig Tsuji wants to beef up the leadership part of the Boys’ Leadership Academy. He hopes to have students from Grades 4 to 8 work together one day a week next year on independent, hands-on research projects. Less sitting and listening. More movement, particularly for boys. “We have to cater to creativity rather than the old industrial model; even I get bored working with pen and paper.” Tsuji may have the boys work on problems together while they work out. “A little exercise, then stop, do a little brainstorming. Even I do my best thinking on a bike ride.”

Ben Heppner Vocal Music Academy

Students here sing together in the halls, in the lunch room, outside principal Brian Bennett’s office, but he doesn’t mind — he has a degree in music himself and this is, after all, the Ben Heppner Vocal Music Academy. At 13, student Donte Brown chose this school because “music is a big part of me.” Bennett is proud that one-third of the students next year will be boys and argues music is no “frill”; it helps kids grasp math and build self-esteem. Chimes in student Amaya Alexander: “Music is a good way to build confidence.”

Downtown Vocal Music Academy

You don’t have to be a singing superstar for the Downtown Vocal Music Academy — “We focus on student interest, not student talent,” says principal Kien Luu. With fewer public performances than the Ben Heppner vocal school — and no interest in outside competitions — its more low-key approach includes each student working on a musical project, said Luu. The vice-principal is a music specialist, as are three of the five teachers. The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music offers tutors to teach keyboard for free at recess and lunch. There’s a mass choir practice of all 68 students once a week.