| Sacred Heart Catholic High School | |
| Address | |
| 1 Crusader Way Newmarket, Ontario, Canada |
|
| Information | |
| School board | York Catholic District School Board |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Superintendent | Michael Nasello |
| Principal | John Heinrich |
| School type | High school |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Language | English |
| Motto | "A community called to share in the development of the whole person" |
| Mascot | Corky the Crusader |
| Colours | Maroon and Grey |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Enrolment | 1620 (2006-2007) |
| Homepage | http://sahe.ycdsb.ca/ |
Sacred Heart Catholic High School is a public Catholic high school in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It is currently the only high school in Newmarket under the jurisdiction of the York Catholic District School Board. Sacred Heart has a modest student population compared to other York Region Catholic high schools. There were 1620 full time registered students for the 2005/2006 year, 95 full time staff members, and 24 support staff.
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In January 1969, the York Region Separate School Board came into existence with the combining of eleven small school boards. Shortly thereafter, the Board passed a motion to Catholic High Schools in Toronto. At their next meeting, trustees faced a parents' delegation protesting the decision. This delegation, in convincing the Board to reverse its stand, showed that support for the concept of Catholic education beyond elementary school was strong.
Thus, the Board carried on the tradition of Catholic education and continued to transport students to Catholic high schools in Metropolitan Toronto. In 1973, the Metro Separate School Board declared that these students could no longer be accommodated. Therefore in 1974, the York Separate School Board decided to establish St. Robert Catholic High School in Thornhill, Ontario. In doing so, the Board made a statement that a second junior high school would be built north of Toronto at a future date "if the extension of Catholic education is supported by the Catholic community of York Region".
St. Robert was a tremendous success and after four years was filled to capacity. The Board, therefore, opened the doors of Sacred Heart Junior High School in September 1979, providing 265 students with a Grades 7 to 9 program. Through the cooperative efforts of the Board and the Toronto Archdiocese High School Commission, Grade 11 was introduced in September 1981 and one grade was added each subsequent year.
Simultaneously, a building program was undertaken and beautiful new facilities were made available to students in September 1983. The student population continued to increase and a new addition to the building was opened in May 1987.
The Catholic School Council in conjunction with staff and students continue to seek improvements to the school. In 2002 two new additions were added which gave the school a new cafeteria, upgraded physical education equipment and facilities, an expanded library resource centre, a theatre/lecture hall, new administrative offices as well as guidance and special education additions.
Another major renovation took place in the summer of 2004. The entire second floor of the old wing received new Science Labs and Art Rooms.
Sacred Heart Catholic High School's sports teams are known as the Crusaders. The school's mascot is Corky, a lovable knight dressed in armor, who is known for his playful and sometimes absurd attitude while attending Crusader home games.
Sacred Heart competes in a variety of different sports including:
Sacred Heart has found the most athletic success in the sport of basketball. Over the past seventeen years, the Crusaders (both boys' and girls' teams) have won a total of 10 York Region Athletic Association (YRAA) championships. Six of those championships have been won in the last five years.
Sacred Heart has also won numerous championships in cross country and track and field, including winning the overall York Region championship six years in a row in cross country as well as four OFSAA championships in the past 5 years.
The Varsity Girls Curling Team won the York Region Athletic Association (YRAA) Championships in the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons.
Both the Boy's and Girl's rugby teams will be participating in international competitions this coming March Break after last years successful Boy's Rugby trip to Scotland last season.
The Boys Junior golf team finished 2nd and Boys Senior team finished 4th at YRAA Championships.
The school also has a popular Ski & Snowboard Club which has weekly ski trips to Horseshoe Resort and an annual trip to places like Vermont and the West Coast.
Sacred Heart has always been an active contributor to the local community. Every year, the school gets involved with many fundraising and charitable organizations. For instance, the school participates in the Terry Fox Run, semester food drives, and Sharelife, an organization which raises funds to support those going through some very difficult times. Sacred Heart also participates in the CN Tower stairclimbs for United Way, The 30 Hour Famine, Habitat for Humanity and the World Wildlife Fund.
During the last five years, the Sacred Heart community, along with a number of other schools, have also been involved with the Hands of Hope project. The program was developed for the main reason of educating students concerning humanitarian and social justice issues and causes students to take action against them.
The charitable organization Hands Of Hope For the Children was formed upon the return of two teachers who had traveled on a bus, which acted as a mobile dentist clinic, through Guatemala in 1999. During this visit, they saw how much hope Sacred Heart could give to these communities. In 2000, four teachers and four students took three buses filled with donations from twelve schools in the Newmarket community to Guatemala. The donations included clothing, shoes, medical and dental supplies, tools, and athletic equipment. While in Guatemala, they distributed the items to organizations and villages within the country. Two of the buses are now being used as mobile medical clinics for rural villages. The third bus was given to a human rights organization for children's programs. The most recent campaign lead to the construction of over 100 beds for impoverished villages.
The student government at Sacred Heart is split up into five different councils which have authority over their specific jurisdictions. The most influential council is the Student Council. This council is elected by the student body. The Student Council is responsible for organizing dances, semi-formals, making the morning announcements, and overseeing most of the operations in the student government.
The Arts Council is in charge of showcasing the school's artistic talents. Over the years, the Arts Council has been able to put on many theatrical plays, musicals, and events such as the Guitar Wars, Battle of the Bands, and Art & Soul Night. Arts Council is also responsible for the end of year Arts Banquet for the up and coming musicians, artists, actors and actresses.
The Athletic Council is in charge of continuing Sacred Heart’s sporting traditions. They organize the annual Athletic Banquet and numerous 'Buy Out's/Buy In's' throughout the year so students can cheer on the teams.
The Spirit Council is responsible for bring cheer and school spirit to the student body with entertaining events, games, and the yearly pep rally.
The Youth Awareness Council (Y.A.C.) is responsible for lending a hand to those who are in need by raising the community’s awareness of social justice issues. Y.A.C. has organized food drives, the Montreal massacre memorial, and Black History Month.
The Sacred Writ is the school newspaper which has a new issue every two or three months.
Sacred Heart's School Reach program is among the most successful in York Region. The Junior/Intermediate team has won numerous regional championships while the Senior team has advanced to the Provincial Finals on several occasions, most recently the 2007-2008 season where they finished tied for tenth in the province under the tireless leadership of team captain Mike Hunt.
Sacred Heart has changed the uniform policy numerous times since opening. Currently, students wear white golf shirts with grey dress pants and solid black shoes. Students also have the option of wearing school crested burgundy sweaters or cardigans ordered through uniform providers.
Girls were previously allowed to wear kilts but this privilege was taken away during the 2010-2011 school year. The original plan was to "phase out" the kilts by disallowing them for the class of 2013 onwards but allowing the classes of 2010, 2011, and 2012 to wear kilts until graduation — however, this was changed and the right to wear a kilt was taken away from girls in all grades shortly after Christmas Break in January 2011.