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 Tom Dunn
Vice principal Laura Agro-DeRosa
John Quinlan
Tom Dunn
Administrator Helen Carrier
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://schools.hcdsb.org/ntdm/

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.

Contents

[edit] School population

The school enrolled slightly over 1800 students in the 2004-2005 school year and over 2000 for the 2005-2006 year as a result of the surrounding cities' increasing growth. As of 2005, there were 29 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, Canadian Martyrs and St. Christopher Elementary school.

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 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.

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 that attends 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 year by the previous years Speedo Man.

[edit] Other extracurriculars

[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 (Tom Dunn), 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

[edit] External links