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| Vaughan Road Academy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
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529Vaughan Road ,, Canada | |
| Coordinates | 43°41′27″N79°26′12″W / 43.690786°N 79.436678°W /43.690786; -79.436678 |
| Information | |
| Former names | Vaughan Road High School Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute |
| School type | High school |
| Motto | In Medium Quaesita Reponunt (They lay up in store for common use whatever they have gained) |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Status | Core Holding |
| Closed | 2017[1][2][3] |
| School board | Toronto District School Board |
| Grades | 9–13 |
| Language | English |
| Area | Oakwood Village |
| Colours | Blue,Red, andGold |
| Mascot | Viper(formerly a Viking) |
| Team name | Vaughan Road Vipers(formerly Vaughan Road Vikings) |
| Website | schools |
Vaughan Road Academy (VRA), formerly known asVaughan Road High School andVaughan Road Collegiate Institute, is aToronto District School Board (TDSB) facility that formerly operated as anInternational Baccalaureate high school inToronto,Ontario, Canada. It was located in theOakwood Village neighbourhood of the former suburb ofYork.
The former school is situated at theVaughan Road and Winona Drive intersection, close to Oakwood Avenue. It worked in partnership with the J.R. Wilcox and Cedarvale Community Schools, and from 1998 until the school's closure, it offered theIB Diploma Programme for students in grades 11 and 12. In addition to the International Baccalaureate, it has also hadcooperative education and INTERACT programs. The school ceased to exist as an operating school on June 30, 2017, due to low enrollment and the building remains under TDSB possession to be used as a holding school (i.e. a school used to hold another school's staff and students on a temporary basis).
Vaughan Road High School was the first high school built in York Township, the forerunner of theBorough of York. Construction of VRCI began in July 1926 and the cornerstone was laid by Lieutenant-GovernorHenry Cockshutt in September 1926. The building was designed by architectGeorge Roper Gouinlock, son ofGeorge Wallace Gouinlock.[4] George Evans, the first principal,[5] served from 1926 to 1957. In April 1927, the students moved into the school from temporary quarters in portables at Rawlinson Public School.
The school was later renamed Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute.
In 1997, the school was renamed Vaughan Road Academy, and began offering advanced academic, arts and athletic programs. It began offering the International Baccalaureate program in 1998.[6] Vaughan Road Academy students also began wearingschool uniforms as well.
A section of Vaughan Road Academy is used as a community daycare centre as well, even after the school's closure.
The school closed on its 90th anniversary at the end of the 2016–17 school year in June 2017 citing low attendance operating at approximately 20% of its capacity (as compared with the 1970s and the 1980s when the school was overcapacity, reaching capacity again during the mid-2000s and declined since then). Many students who live in the school's catchment area end up attending other nearby high schools such asForest Hill Collegiate Institute to the east, which is overcapacity, as well as the nearbyOakwood Collegiate Institute to the south, which is absorbing most of the remaining students and programs.[1][2]
Cynthia "Cindy" Zwicker-Reston was the school's final principal.
The facility, renamed529 Vaughan Road, is used as a temporary school for students of Davisville Public School and Spectrum Alternative School beginning in the 2018–19 school year to accommodate the construction of a new school building inDavisville Village inMidtown Toronto to replace the previous school building there. Students in Davisville Village are bused to 529 Vaughan Road.[7][8]
TheInternational Baccalaureate (IB) program allowed students to earn an IB Diploma, while also earning theOntario Secondary School Diploma (O.S.S.D.).
The INTERACT program was for students in the school who are heavily involved in the arts or athletics program outside of school. These students have flexible schedules to accommodate their auditions, rehearsals, performances, competitions, etc. Notable alumni of the INTERACT program includeDrake,Elliot Page (then known as Ellen Page),[9]Alison Pill,Mark Rendall,Hans Wolfgramm andTyler Nella. The program moved to nearby Oakwood Collegiate Institute in September 2017.
Cooperative education, or Co-op, is a structured method of combining academic education with practical work experience. It was a four-credit semester program offered in World of Work (3) and Business English (1).
Vaughan Road Academy had interscholastic and intramural teams forbadminton,ball hockey,baseball,basketball, cricket, cross country running, flag football, hockey, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field and volleyball and knuckleballs.
Vaughan Road competed in TDSSAA andOntario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) as the Vaughan Road Vipers, which was not to be confused witha similarly named junior hockey team inVaughan, Ontario.[citation needed]
In 2004, the Vipers came second in the OFSAA 'AA' Provincial Championships and won the OFSAA 'AA' Provincial Championships in 2012.
Since the school's closure, Vaughan Road Vipers disbanded.
Vaughan Road Academy had a school newspaper, once known as "The Von Vox, then "The Vaughan Vox", though it was sometimes simply called the "Vox". Typically, it was released twice a year. It was usually eight pages long and covered a range of school activities and issues.
Vaughan Road Academy had a large and active Queer-Straight Alliance until the school's closure in 2017. Founded in 2006 as aGay-Straight Alliance by a small group of grade 12 students, it was reactivated in 2010.
Vaughan Road students have participated in competitions such as the annualSears Ontario Drama Festival, where several of the top awards for 2006 went to VRA students,[10] and theInternational Olympiad in Informatics, where a VRA student received a gold medal in 2005 and silver medals in 2004 and 2006.[11] In 2013, the short film "Homecoming," produced by grade twelve students in the Vaughan Road Academy film program, was shown in the TIFF Bell Lightbox "Jump Cuts" film festival. The following year, in 2014, Vaughan Road film students had another film in the "Jump Cuts" festival, "Nightlight."
The school motto was a quote from the fourth book ofVergil'sGeorgics, which describes the behaviour and society of bees:In Medium Quaesita Reponunt, which means "They lay up in store for common use whatever they have gained".[citation needed]
VRA from above appeared as a near-isosceles right angle triangle with enclosed courtyard (in which a daycare for Vaughan Road students' children operates) of the same shape; the overall aerial view's reminiscence ofThe Pentagon lending the building the moniker "The Triagon". While the school letter is predictably "V" as chosen from the Latin alphabet, the lesser-known Greek school letter, Delta, is derived from the building's shape; as in the sciences, Delta denotes change.[citation needed]
The first wing of the school was built in 1926, the second in 1931, and the third, which closed the "L" and turned it into a triangle, in 1967.[citation needed]
 | This article's list of alumnimay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Pleaseimprove this article by removing names that do not have independentreliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this articleand are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriatecitations.(April 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
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