Twenty-five years ago, Shannon Judge was an indigenous student in a Barrie high school where sports teams were named the “Redskins.”

A generation earlier her mother, from Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, wasn’t allowed to speak her first language of Ojibwe at the elementary school she attended on her reserve.

Today, Judge’s two children are finally breaking the cycle at First Nations School of Toronto. Raven, 9, and Rayne, 8, are part of a new era of indigenous education that teaches them through the lens of aboriginal experience and history.

Thanks to their school, both children now speak Ojibwe with their grandmother, which has inspired Judge to take lessons too, provided by volunteers through the school. Morning smudging ceremonies and daily 40-minute language and culture classes with an elder are part of their routine.

“I feel like my kids are getting something from school that’s not only education, but a connection to their history and identity that empowers them and gives them a sense of worthiness,” says Judge.

As of this month, students will have the option of keeping that connection until they graduate from Grade 12, following the school’s long-awaited move from its cramped quarters at Dundas Street Public School.

The move to the spacious building — site of the former Eastern Commerce Collegiate, which closed in 2015 due to falling enrolment — means that beginning in September, First Nations School will introduce a new high school grade each fall. The new Grade 9 class next September will become the first graduates in 2021.

That will make it Ontario’s first publicly-funded school to offer aboriginal education from kindergarten through Grade 12.

“The dynamics have changed,” principal Jonathan Kakegamic said following the Jan. 10 opening on the six-acre property, also home to the Aboriginal Education Centre run by the Toronto District School Board.

The kids, currently in kindergarten through Grade 8 and from all over the city, were beside themselves to see all the space, inside and out. Instead of eating breakfast and lunch in a crowded classroom, they now have a cafeteria, along with their own gym and an auditorium.

“I’m just excited to be here,” says Kakegamic, who moved from Thunder Bay last August to become principal. “It’s an honour to be part of this new era.”

Attendance has already risen to 131 students from 96 in September and the new site will accommodate 600.

Kakegamic and others in the community stress that expanding to secondary school is critical to reducing high dropout rates among indigenous students, who often feel lost in a larger system that doesn’t teach their perspective and history.

“Identity is huge,” says Kakegamic. “They need to be proud of who they are, and if they are, they’ll have a sense of direction in life and have goals.”

The former principal of Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay knows the risks faced by many aboriginal teens isolated from their communities. Six students from his former school were among the seven youth from remote communities who died in Thunder Bay between 2000 and 2011 and were the subject of a lengthy inquest last year.

First Nations School’s expansion is expected to attract more students, including those from First Nations programs at other schools such as Eastview Junior Public School in Scarborough looking for a high school option.

Grade 8 students Brittany Cada and Kai McQuabbie, who’ve attended First Nations since kindergarten, could become members of its first graduating class.

“I’ll try it out and see if I like it,” says Kai, 13, who lives in Etobicoke and travels an hour each way by subway to attend the school.

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Brittany says she’s had lots of inquiries from friends interested in enrolling next year. The high school is expected to share resources — and the third floor — with Subway Academy, a small alternative school already in the building, which will provide students with a wider range of course options.

Brittany and Kai say learning about their culture and place in history is an important part of their education. So is the school’s small size, which means everyone knows each other and there’s lots of support available.

“It’s like a big family,” says Brittany, 13. “The little kids, when they see you in the hallway they run up and hug you.”

She’s fluent in Ojibwe and Kai says he’s lucky to be studying the language his mother never had the opportunity to learn.

It’s a long way from Shannon Judge’s high school days, when she was taught little aboriginal history. Her children, on the other hand, are learning a curriculum infused with indigenous perspectives and culture and including hard truths about their history such as the painful legacy of residential schools.

They are accustomed to ending every week with “Big Circle,” a Friday gathering of students and staff to share, sing and drum. Judge watched her Grade 2 son drumming in a traditional ceremony to mark the winter solstice.

Having the Aboriginal Education Centre onsite means access to mentors including a full-time elder, an artist roster, library and professional learning and resources for teachers.

“This is without doubt the most important school I’ve ever taught in,” says Max Evans, who teaches a Grade 3/4 class and has been at the school for a decade.

“I get to come into a school every day where I learn as much as the kids do,” says Evans, who has embraced the culture and can speak some Ojibwe.

The board has invested about $300,000 for new ceilings and floors, paint and other renovations including creating a full-day kindergarten space, says TDSB superintendent John Chasty.

There currently aren’t enough funds for a complete facelift — which includes changes to a façade that’s disturbingly similar to the old residential schools. But there are plans to convert the back entrance from the field into the main entry and revamp the rest over time. An additional $900,000 has been budgeted for work this summer with the help of the Six Nations firm Two Row Architect, plus $500,000 to create a barrier-free environment, he said.

Down the road Kakegamic hopes to add new languages, such as Cree and Oji-Cree according to demand. There will also be discussion about adding indigenous teachers to the current staff of 16. While school support staff are aboriginal, current rules on posting, hiring and criteria for teacher positions make it difficult to recruit teachers on that basis.

Hiring Kakegamic as principal from outside the TDSB was unprecedented but important, notes Chasty.

Judge says while there’s still a lot of work to do, the future is positive for a school that is making a difference.

“It’s not just staff and students. I think our school is really changing families,” says Judge. “Our kids are taking it home to parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties. “It’s bringing our community back.”

The First Nations School of Toronto is holding an open house Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. at 16 Phin Ave.