As the weather gets warmer, senior students begin to look forward to the celebrations ending off their four years of hard work, often including a senior trip to Canada’s Wonderland. However, recent TDSB policy updates—specifically ones involving the safety and education benefits within field trips—have resulted in the trip’s cancellation. Subsequently, King’s senior students of 2025 and onwards will no longer be able to experience this highly-anticipated excursion.

For years, King students taking the Calculus & Vectors, Advanced Functions and Physics courses have visited Canada’s Wonderland as the grand finale to an extremely difficult semester. The trip allowed students to see the real world applications of slopes and turning points in action, experiencing their curriculum in a unique and exhilarating way. Moreover, the amusement park facilitated the annual WonderCoaster Building Contest, a chance for members of King’s STEAM council to showcase their talents in physics and engineering.

Many students have come forward to question the possible reasons behind the removal, specifically any supposed risks. “How can safety be the real concern here? Students regularly use the TTC for school trips, which is equally or more dangerous than Wonderland. Sure, there have been more incidents of crime in recent years but not enough to overtake the TTC,” states Gwyneth Hsu, a senior. 

The chances of crime are low but the chances of being injured fatally on a rollercoaster are even lower. “Statistically, the ‘risk factors’ at Canada’s Wonderland are significantly minimal compared to other places. Since the opening of the park in 1981, there has been zero recorded fatalities as a result of rides in the park. According to data provided by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, there are less than 1 injuries of any nature for every million rides taken,” writes King student Varsan Jeyakkumar in a letter addressed to the TDSB’s Director of Education, Clayton La Touche. 

Jeyakkumar goes on to compare the fatality risks of amusement parks to those related to transportation. “Data provided by Transport Canada indicates that 48.25 Canadians per every million Canadians die in motor vehicle fatalities.” The hour-long bus ride to the amusement park and back is arguably more dangerous than the park itself.

Permission forms would be more than sufficient to indicate a student’s willingness to participate in the excursion. Aashir Talukder, a grade 12 student at King, raises an interesting point regarding the situation: “It’s way more common to sustain an injury playing a sport, yet sports aren’t canceled.” More than that, students are completely aware of the physical risks associated with a sport before signing up. Compare this to a one-day field trip at a well-reputed amusement park where the chances of injury are miles more unlikely. Surely a permission form would be good enough.

Past graduates of King have consistently enjoyed this milestone, making the cancellation hit even harder for this year’s seniors. “My trip last year was so much fun, everyone had their acceptances and we could finally relax, have fun and be teenagers. Me and my friends still talk about it and we’re in our first year of university,” shares Sansita Malholtra. Fajar Shahid, another King graduate, adds on: “The trip was not just for fun, it incorporated a combination of the calculus, functions and physics curriculums I believe. A lot of the time schools have actual grad trips, but this was still a wholesome ending to our 4 years of hard work.”

Areeb Munir, president of King’s Student Council, prides the Wonderland trip on being safer than most other trips. “The trip is in an enclosed area and if regular check-ins by teachers are made, it is completely safe: the risk levels of rides at the park are extremely low and students are unable to leave the premises.” It’s important to note that even if a trip like this is cancelled, it does nothing to prevent seniors from going on their own graduation trips together in retaliation. By cancelling the excursion, somehow other unexpected safety concerns arise. The safest thing that King could do for its students would be to provide them a graduation trip where they are chaperoned by teachers, rather than leaving them to their own devices.

Despite the sudden push to cancel King’s Wonderland trip, the amusement park still remains a TDSB-approved excursion. For instance, Runnymede Junior and Senior Public School still has a scheduled visit to the park in the near future. Students and guardians continue to wonder what sets King apart from other TDSB schools in these regards.

“At the end of the day, having a senior trip builds community and helps the fight against senioritis. It’s a stressful year, we need some release,” says Hsu. Numerous generations of students have found great worth in the excursion, whether it be through learning or just having fun. Many in the King community find the sudden cancellation of the trip unfair; a clearer explanation is in order. “Whoever decided [the trip] was a bad idea should try taking a grade 12 Calculus course after 14 years of schooling and see if they would still choose bureaucratic butt covering over student tradition.”

Students are encouraged to speak up and advocate for the changes they want to see, or in this case, don’t want to see.

Sign the petition to help bring the trip back: http://change.org/kingwonderlandtrip