Who we are

About the founder

Ariana Gonzalez Stokas is a committed teacher with over twenty years of experience in the field of education. She began her career working as an early childhood educator and then went on to receive a PhD in Philosophy and Education from Columbia University Teachers College. While there she studied aesthetic education with Maxine Greene and immersed herself in pedagogies of emergent learning such as Reggio Emilia. She has been a professor and a higher education administrator developing diversity, equity and inclusion programs. She believes deeply in the transformative power of arts based education.

Ariana is a certified teacher in New York State, a certified Artifical Intelligence Ethics Officer and is pending certification with the Ontario College of Teachers.

Why “Red Fox?”

Learning from the land and the local environment is a core tenant of emergent education and the values of Red Fox. The red fox is considered the unofficial mammal of Toronto! It thrives in natural and built environments. Red Foxes are focused on the care and protection of their kits. They are highly adaptable, resourceful and teach us the importance of finding creative solutions to thrive in unexpected ways.

Mission

To nurture curiosity in children to become joyful learners and inquisitive, constructive participants in their society.

Vision

To provide research based and enriching educational services to the children and families of downtown Toronto through an inquiry and play based environment inspired by the pedagogy of Reggio Emilia and arts based education.  

Land Acknowledgement

As a settler educational organization operating on the traditional territories of many nations, including the Mississauga of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat and the Petun Nations, we acknowledge that the colonial educational system created Residential Schools in an attempt to erase  and eliminate First Nations communities. We commit to providing education that consistently teaches children right relations, accountability to the broken treaties and care for the land that nourishes and teaches us the path to decolonized futures.