Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School (Burlington)
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| Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School | |
| Address | |
| 2333 Headon Forest Drive Burlington, Ontario, L7M 3X6, Canada |
|
| Information | |
| School board | Halton Catholic District School Board |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Superintendent | Fiammetta Mazzetti |
| Principal | Stanley Gajewski |
| Vice principal | Laura Agro-DeRosa Dave DeSantis Tom Dunn |
| School type | Separate High School |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Language | English, French Immersion |
| Mascot | Leprechaun |
| Team name | Fighting Irish |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Enrollment | 1,700 (2005) |
| Homepage | http://notredame.hcdsb.org/ |
Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School is a coeducational Catholic high school in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1989 by the Halton Catholic District School Board and currently enrolls students from the ninth to twelfth grades. Notre Dame's emblem is a small dueling leprechaun and, accordingly, the school's slogan is "Fightin' Irish".
In its first year, Notre Dame began by only enrolling ninth and tenth grade classes. Today it schools the Ontario standard of grades 9 through 12. With grade 13 recently being removed as a requirement for graduation in Ontario, many grade twelve graduates return for an optional extra year.
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[edit] School population
The school enrolled slightly over 1700 students in the 2004-2005 school year and over 1900 for the 2005-2006 year as a result of the surrounding cities' increasing growth. As of 2005, there were 25 portables to contain the increasing overflow of classes and students. It receives most new students from local elementary schools including Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Gabriel, St. Timothy, St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Mark, and Canadian Martyrs.
Notre Dame, like all publicly funded Catholic schools in Ontario, also accepts non-Catholics into the school; however, they are expected to take part in the religious activities and mandatory religious classes.
The Catholic school's parishes are St. Paul the Apostle and St. Gabriel. It belongs to the Diocese of Hamilton, under Bishop Anthony Tonnos.
[edit] Athletics
Notre Dame is widely known for being very competitive and successful athletically. Notre Dame recently won seven GHAC (Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference) championship titles in the 2004-2005 school year, and won 15 Halton Region championships. Over the past several years, a few teams have placed in the top three at OFSAA (Ontario Provincial Championships), including the Senior Girls' field hockey Team, Varsity Girls' ice hockey , Open Girls Swim Team and the Senior Girls' soccer Team. In the season of 2006, the Senior Girls soccer Team won 1st place against Loyola Catholic Secondary School. The score being 5 to 4, and the team captain Lauren Groleau scoring the winning goal.
There is an annual athletic banquet held near the beginning of June which honors the MVPs and best athletes of the year from every sport and grade. Approximately 400-500 students attend the event, which is well known throughout the school for its comical videos put together by several of the physical education teachers.
[edit] Kilt Krew
Notre Dame has a group of male senior students referred to as "The Kilt Krew". They are a group of kilt wearing cheerleaders that attend many sporting events that Notre Dame is involved in, to encourage students to cheer on the team. They are led by a student dubbed "Speedo Man" who can often be seen running across the field in a green speedo at half-time or pre-game. A new "Speedo Man" is generally selected every few years.
[edit] Other extracurriculars
- Jazz band
- Concert band
- Chess club
- Political society
- Model United Nations
- School play (Once every two years)
- Social Justice Group
[edit] Academics
Notre Dame has a wide array of courses in many different areas of interest. Students with an 79.5 percent overall average or above are recognized by being placed on the school's Honour Roll. Students with the highest average in a course and students who have the highest overall averages of each grade are also recognized.
[edit] School uniform
Notre Dame requires students to wear full school uniform at all times upon entering the building. The strict uniform is intended to create a sense of community and develop a sense of pride and self-discipline. Students must purchase all uniform items from R. J. McCarthy Company.
In 2004, Notre Dame introduced an optional dark blue, fleece sweater to the uniform policy, that is personalized to include the owner's name, name of their sport or club and the school's emblem. Once every month there is a casual dress day called Civies Day, when students may wear appropriate non-uniform clothes.
[edit] Staff
There are currently over 100 full-time teachers employed at Notre Dame. There is one principal (Stanley Gajewski), and three vice principals. There are several day-time and night-time janitors.
[edit] Past administration
- Peter Visser, Principal, 1990-1997
- Art Kelly, Principal, 1997
- Paul Thompson, Principal, 1998-2005
