The Nigel Toy Field was named to honour the 8th Headmaster of St. George’s School upon his retirement in 2010. A major fundraising initiative had previously been undertaken to similarly honour his commitment to and vision of building a boys’ school with a justified pride in its international reputation. This fundraising initiative established the Nigel R.L. Toy Scholars Fund to allow financial aid to be awarded to deserving students who would otherwise be unable to attend the School.

Mr. Toy has been described as visionary, dedicated, compassionate, charismatic, determined, principled, competitive, passionate, patient, humble, and respected. This very impressive list of aspirational characteristics also explains how the School he left in 2010 was nationally and internationally acknowledged for its outstanding academic, athletic, and arts programs. His leadership proved crucial to the transformative changes that St. George’s experienced in his 13 years as Headmaster, and many hundreds of boys grew up with his ‘play hard, play fair’ approach to life and learning. He was and still is a team player, and those staff and faculty who worked with him knew that they were appreciated and that their good work did not go unnoticed.

The facility renewals, the new programs, and the inherent sense of pride in School and self marked by his tenure were transformational. In his time he almost doubled the student population and established the critical mass of students necessary to build excellence. He attracted and hired outstanding faculty, and he raised the bar with respect to the expectations around student behaviour. He also established the Advancement Office, and played a key role in attracting the first-ever million dollar gift to the School. Mr. Toy remains closely connected to and supportive of the School since his retirement, and we are happy to be able to honour him as a Builder of St. George’s School.