Abbey Park High School

Abbey Park High School, commonly referred to as APHS, is a secondary school located in the town of Oakville, Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area. Abbey Park High School was opened at its present location in the wake of the closure of Queen Elizabeth Park High School, which was previously operating at its Bridge Road location, in Bronte. Abbey Park has more resources available to its students than other schools in the region because it inherited Queen Elizabeth Park's resources when it was closed. This allowed for the initial opening budget to be spent on new equipment. Students have open access to a weight room, home economics kitchen, library, and track. Abbey Park High School is also situated beside the Glen Abbey Community Centre, which houses the Glen Abbey branch of the Oakville Public Library.

Abbey Park High School
Address
1455 Glen Abbey Gate

Oakville
,
Ontario
,
L6M 2V7

Canada
Coordinates43°26′10″N 079°44′10″W
Information
School typePublic, High school
Founded2004
School boardHalton District School Board
SuperintendentColette Ruddock[1]
Area trusteeJoanna Oliver[1]
School number913715
PrincipalSarah Connor
Grades9–12
Enrollment1,227[1] (2017-2018)
LanguageEnglish
Colour(s)   blue & white
MascotJoe Eagle
Team nameEagles
PublicationEagle Ink
Feeder schoolsAbbey Lane Public School, Heritage Glen Public School, Pilgrim Wood Public School
Public transit accessOakville Transit
Websiteaph.hdsb.ca

Abbey Park has been recognized as a very charitable school taking part in many annual fundraisers including the Terry Fox Run, Halloween for Hunger (H4H), and Pencils for Kids.

Academics

Academically, Abbey Park is among the strongest secondary schools in Ontario ranking 2nd overall and first in Oakville.[2] Abbey Park offers a variety of enrichment programs such as the Cluster Program for high achieving students, two Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) programs for business and the social sciences as well as an Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) for fashion. Recently, Abbey Park began offering the Advanced Placement Calculus, Advanced Placement Biology and Advanced Placement Statistics courses. Abbey Park students continue to succeed in math competitions often earning regional, provincial and national recognition; Abbey Park ranked number two in Oakville, in its math contests performance in the year 2011–2012.

Abbey Park students have also been very successful in the Bay Area Science And Engineering Fair (BASEF) interregional competition. In 2010, a student from Abbey Park won second best in fair and progressed to Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). In 2012, two Abbey Park students progressed to ISEF, one of whom won the best in fair award. In 2013, one Abbey Park student progressed to ISEF and won second best in fair. In 2014, two Abbey Park students won gold merit awards and progressed to Canada Wide Science Fair (CWSF). In 2020, one Abbey Park student won a silver merit award and progressed to CWSF.

Arts

Drama

The dramatic arts program at Abbey Park attracts many students to participate in its clubs and productions.

Every year, Abbey Park organizes a team to compete in the Canadian Improv Games, a national tournament for high school improv. Abbey Park's teams have been consistently strong over the years, and won the silver medal at the 2009 National Tournament, placing 15th nationally in 2008.[3]

Scripted dramatic productions are also very popular at Abbey Park. Each November, Abbey Park puts on a dramatic production (known as Fall Production within the school). A group of less formal productions are organized in the spring for Abbey Park's Show of Hands Drama Festival, where any group of students may perform.

Music

Abbey Park has several different bands that perform at various shows throughout the year:

  • Junior Music Band, consisting of grade 9 students,
  • Senior Music Band, consisting of students from grades 10, 11 and 12,
  • Jazz Band, consisting of students who have successfully completed an audition early in the school year, and
  • Ska Band, a small student-organized band.

Visual

Abbey Park has an Arts Club that any student is welcome to join. The club meets on a weekly basis throughout the year and focuses on creating visual art pieces for portfolios of students intending to apply to a post-secondary program where a portfolio of artwork is necessary.

Sports

Cheerleading

Abbey Park's cheerleading team competes in the large Senior Advanced All-Girl division, which is the highest possible division for high school teams. The team won the titles of Regional, Provincial and National Champions in 2010. In 2011, the team has placed first at Regionals, Provincials and Nationals. They also won the award for "Top Team Tumbling" at both the 2010 and 2011 Nationals. The team also won Provincial and National Champions in 2012, making this their third year in a row undefeated.

Girls rugby

Abbey Park started a Varsity Girls Rugby team in the 2009 season. A stunningly impressive first season led the girls to victories in tournaments and against rivals Blakelock High School and Loyola Catholic School. Many players continued on to lead the team to an impressive second year, reaching the Halton Finals. Many girls have since gone onto play for universities across Canada as well as Rugby Canada Junior teams. In 2012, the Abbey Park Varsity Girls Rugby team were the tier 2 Halton Champions.

Basketball

Boys and Girls Eagles Basketball teams compete in the Halton Secondary School Athletic Association (HSSAA). The Midget Boys basketball team won the Halton Region Championship in the school's first season in 2005.[4]

Boys Rugby

The boys rugby program was established in 2005 by Coach and local rugby notable, Tyler Leggatt. Tyler Leggatt rose to prominence as a player with the Oakville Crusaders in the early 2000s. He earned notoriety with the highly reputable club and would later go on to represent Ontario as a member of the President's XV, and the Niagara Thunder in the Rugby Canada Super League. That first year, assistant coaches included Mike Linton and Pat St. James. In 2006, Mr Leggatt would be joined by his former assistant at White Oaks Secondary School, Bob Hepburn. Mr Hepburn would continue to assist with the program and play a critical role in its success until he passed away suddenly in June 2018

Since their start in 2005, in just a few short years the program would field three teams: bantam, junior and senior sides. Abbey Park's first senior captain was Chris Hyde (2007). The first grade 11 to captain the senior squad was Matthew Jones. Abbey Park run three age grades all of which compete in Tier One: bantam (gr. 9); junior (gr. 10); and senior boys (gr. 11 and 12).

Championships

Since the program's inception in 2005, Abbey Park has competed in every Halton Tier One Senior boys final except one (2013). The Senior Boys rugby team has won the GHAC Regional title four times: 2010 and 2011 as a AAA/AAAA program and again in 2015 and 2016 as a A/AA program. Abbey Park's senior boys have competed at AAA/AAAA OFSAA in 2011 where they finished 4th after being defeated by Oakville Trafalgar in the 3rd place match, played in Oakville at Crusader park. Abbey Park notably eliminated Streetsville, ranked 2nd and favorites for the title. More recently, the AP Senior Boys have competed in the A/AA OFSAA Rugby Championships in 2015 and 2016, finishing 6th and 9th respectively.

National Team Selections

Many young Eagles have gone on to represent Ontario at the National Festival each summer, and four former players have gone on to play for Canada at the junior age grade: Djustice Sears-Duru, Chris Woodhead, and Sawyer Herron. Djustice is a current member of Rugby Canada's National Senior Men's team and plays professionally in the UK. While, currently, Aidan Foley has played on the Canada U18 competing in the Junior European Championships.

Coach Tyler Leggatt has been a part of Canada's U17 Men's Coaching Staff and operates one of Canada's most successful rugby training and development programs in Upright Rugby Canada.

Varsity Lacrosse

Abbey Park started a Varsity Boys Lacrosse team in the 2012 season. In the OFSAA qualifiers Abbey Park had a record of 1–2 defeating the defending champions Notre Dame but losing to Corpus Christi and school rival Loyola ended Abbey Parks chances to qualify for OFSAA. Abbey Park had a record of 3-8 for the season. Restarting in 2015/2016, Abbey park has qualified for OFSAA and medaled every year; Gold (2016/2017), Bronze (2015/2016, 2016/2017). Abbey Park has only lost one game in both the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 season, defeating rivals Holy Trinity each year.

Councils

Abbey Park has several student-body councils for different areas of interest. The Arts Council plans art-related events, the Student Government plans events such as Coffee House and Pasta Night, the Environmental Council is committed to improving the quality of the environment in and around the school and the Social Council tackles and raises awareness of worldwide social problems. Abbey Park's Executive Council is a meta-council consisting of leaders from all councils & clubs. The Executive Council meets semi-annually. The Ontario Organization of Secondary Students (OOSS) began at Abbey Park and has extended to various schools in the Halton and Peel region.

Clubs

Tutoring Club

Abbey Park's Tutoring Club, founded in 2011, provides tutoring and mentorship services to students from Abbey Park and the surrounding community. The leadership roles are split according to various subjects; there are directors of math, sciences and languages who coordinate individual workshops ahead of tests and exams.

Eagle Ink

The Eagle Ink (previously named Quill) is Abbey Park's school magazine. Any student can join as a writer, editor, photographer or layout designer. The magazine is published semi-annually at the end of each semester.

Young Women In Leadership

Young Women in Leadership is a group for young women in the school that discusses issues young women face to promote awareness.

DECA

The business department at Abbey Park runs a DECA chapter for the school. Abbey Park competes at DECA Ontario's Hamilton Regional Competition in November,[5] and a large percentage of competitors move on to the provincial competition in February in Toronto.

Debate Club

Abbey Park's debate club seeks to improve students' public speaking skills and ability to logically organize ideas. The club follows both the Canadian Parliamentary style and the British Parliamentary Style for formal debates. Abbey Park's debate club is regionally successful winning many interscholastic debates.

Math Society

Abbey Park Math Society is composed of ambitious students who aspire to do better in numerous mathematical contests offered throughout the year. Math Society meets every week to refresh the members of common mathematical concepts that appear in the contests and how to attack those problems in a more time-efficient manner. Anyone is welcome to join, anytime, regardless of mathematical skills.

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "School Details: Abbey Park High School". Halton District School Board.
  2. "Compare academic rankings and ratings of Ontario schools". ontario.compareschoolrankings.org. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  3. "Silver lining for Abbey Park". Oakville Beaver. InsideHalton.
  4. "Hall of Champions". Halton Secondary School Athletic Association. Archived from the original on 29 October 2010.
  5. "DECA Ontario: About Regionals". DECA Ontario. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  6. "Mason posts back-to-back shutouts". InsideHalton. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  7. Fisher, Steve. "Fifty Shades of Red(-Faced Laughter)". The Torontoist. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  8. Fitz-Gerald, Sean. "Leafs sign draft pick Stuart Percy to three-year deal". National Post. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.

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