Simcoe Composite School
Simcoe Composite School is a high school in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.
| Simcoe Composite School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
| |
40 Wilson Avenue , , Canada | |
| Coordinates | 42.841147°N 80.303949°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Public high school |
| Motto | Non sibi sed patriae and The key to SuCceSs is SCS (Not to them but fatherland) |
| Established | 1893 |
| School board | Grand Erie District School Board (formerly Norfolk Board of Education) |
| Principal | John Della Fortuna |
| Grades | 9–12 (formerly 9-13) |
| Enrollment | 890[1] (2012-2013) |
| Language | English |
| Colour(s) | Blue and white |
| Mascot | Sabre |
| Team name | Sabres |
| Website | www |
More than 800 students attend this rural secondary school and courses range from English, French, Art, Music, and Mathematics to Computer Sciences, Business, Athletics, Cosmetology, Tech, World History, Civics, and Drama class. In 2003, the school suffered the loss of their gym in an act of arson. Several years and many fundraisers later, the Sabredome was officially opened again in 2006. Megan Timpf, a representative for the 2008 Canadian softball team at the Olympic Games in Beijing attended this high school.[2]
Other notable alumni include the late saxophonist Margo Davidson, one of the founding members of The Parachute Club, which achieved international success in the 1980s, and Rick Danko, the bassist of The Band. Rob Blake, the former captain of the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and Olympic Gold Medal winner for men's ice hockey, also attended Simcoe Composite School starting in 1983 and ending around 1987. Dr. Robert Gardner emigrated to this school from Glasgow, Scotland and graduated as a member of the Class of 1956.
Campus life
Bridge special needs program
There is also a special education program called Bridge that teaches mentally challenged children how to adapt to adult life in the community. People in the Bridge program range from 14 to 21 years of age and can range from high functioning to severely handicapped.
Athletics
Simcoe Composite School students participate in the follow sports on a high school level:
- basketball
- football
- soccer
- track and field
- hockey
- swimming
- cross country
- cheerleading (informally referred to as cheer)
- badminton
- golf
- tennis
- volleyball
Simcoe Composite School has a football team, basketball team, a soccer team, and a hockey team that collectively use the school team name Sabres. The school's swimming team uses the school team name Sabrecuda which is said to be a cross between the conventional sabre and the barracuda.
Annual awards are given out for the best athletes in all the sports in the middle of June; as it represents the last week in the school year.[3]
Attractions and amenities
Music Program
Simcoe Composite School offers a thriving music program which includes Instrumental Junior, Concert, Senior and Jazz bands. The SCS Teacher Band is composed of both students and staff who practice weekly. Unique to SCS is the Concert Band program in which band participants earn credit toward their OSSD. The SCS music program also offers a credit program in Guitar.
Simcoe Composite School television show
On Thursday nights before Bingo Live on Cable 5, the school had its own local public-access television show for the people in Simcoe to watch.
The show featured highlights on the school, its students, and general popular culture (fashions, new movies, trends). The communications class was responsible for the weekly programming. By using the song Baba O'Riley by The Who during its opening and closing credits, the show emphasized the fact that the show was made for teenagers, by teenagers.
In recent years, the television show was cancelled due to rising broadcast costs and recent government cutbacks.
Carillon Tower
The high school is located next to the Carillon Tower. This tower is considered to be one of only nine functioning Carillon towers remaining in all of Canada. Erected at the end of World War I, this tower serves a reminder for local residents who have died in combat for Canada and the British Commonwealth. The Carillon bells in Simcoe can be heard within a 1-kilometre range and is considered to be an attraction for residents and tourists who walk in the nearby park.
Nearby attractions
There are also two parks near the high school. One can be accessed from a bridge and the other one can be accessed by crossing the main street, which outside of Simcoe, becomes Highway 24. These two parks also hold the Rotary Friendship Festival every August.
To the south, there is a post office. To the north, there is a Wendy's and Subway in addition to other fast food restaurants that are no longer served in the cafeteria due to province-wide ban on junk food in public schools. To the east, there is a neighbourhood, where teenagers usually walk to the high school and back. There is a radius of 2 miles or 3.2 kilometres that the teenagers can take advantage of their walking "privileges" before having to take a school bus.
Future
While most other non-religious high schools will remain open in the foreseeable future, they will see more than 1000 empty seats in their classes by 2017. Everything from homeschooling to the rapidly aging local population to the increasing popularity of virtual high schools on the Internet has stunted the ability of the secular high schools to maintain full classrooms in recent years.
One of the solutions that could save Simcoe Composite School is to wait for the children in the elementary-grade French immersion classes to graduate into the secondary school system and turn most of the area high schools into "French-immersion" high schools. If all else fails and attendance continues to decline, another solution would be to close down this school and Waterford District High School in favor of a new secular high school spanning 15 acres or 650,000 square feet somewhere in Norfolk County. Valley Heights Secondary School and Delhi District Secondary School would remain open as their enrolment numbers are still sufficient for their level of government funding.[4][5]
An International Baccalaureate program will be investigated on starting January 31, 2013. The health sciences program will receive additional partnerships from colleges, university, and from the healthcare system.[5]
See also
References
- "75 — number of students enrolled at PDCS". Delhi News-Record. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
- "Information about Megan Timpf's school". Softball Canada. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
- "SCS hands out year-end athletic awards". The Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
- "Plan B: 'Build a super school'". The Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
- "Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) - Norfolk Secondary". Grand Erie District School Board. Archived from the original on 2012-11-17. Retrieved 2012-11-03.