École secondaire du Versant (English: du Versant Secondary School) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in

Gatineau, Quebec Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's ...

. It is located on Boulevard de la Cité at the corner of Boulevard La Verendrye in the Gatineau sector and is operated by the Commission Scolaire des Draveurs school board. The school is the most recent Francophone high school built in the city. The move was to reduce over-population at other Gatineau sector schools, particularly at the

Polyvalente Le Carrefour The École Polyvalente Le Carrefour is a public high school located in Gatineau, Quebec. It is run by the Commission Scolaire des Draveurs school board in Gatineau and enrolls over 2 300 students and employs a staff of about 175 including teacher ...

located a few minutes south and

Polyvalente Nicolas-Gatineau Polyvalente Nicolas-Gatineau is public secondary school located in Gatineau, Quebec. The school is located at the corner of Boulevards Labrosse and La Vérendrye in the city's east end. It is run by the Centre de service scolaire des Draveurs sch ...

located a few minutes to the east. The school board chose large vacant land currently under development near the Gatineau Hospital to build the new high school and opened on November 12, 2002, with initially 825 students. Initially, students from du Versant started the 2002–2003 school year at the

before moving to their new location. The current student enrollment is approximately 1,200 students and the school has a capacity of about 1,500 students.

Logo and name designation

The name of the school was chosen following a contest involving the population within the Commission Scolaire des Draveurs jurisdiction territory (the Gatineau sector) in which they suggested different names for the new school. The suggestion "du Versant" from a

Secondary 4 student was chosen for

geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

reasons as the school's location on a steep cliff gives a great view of most of the city of

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

just across the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

. The school's logo was designed by a computer graphics student at the Centre Competences-Outaouais, a vocational school in Gatineau.

Information

* The Le Transit program is a measure helping students with

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

problems. * Santé Plein Air and Arts de la Rue are two concentration programs for high-skilled students. * Due to the proximity of the school to a large artery, there were safety concerns due to the high speed limit of 70

km/H The kilometre per hour ( SI symbol: km/h; non-standard abbreviations: kph, km/hr) is a unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour. History Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the term "kilometres per ho ...

. It was reduced to 50 km/H, with school signs and traffic lights added eight months after its opening. Temporary lights were installed for a certain period * Each December, there is an annual dinner organized by the city's media community including members of

CHOT-DT CHOT-DT, virtual channel 40 ( UHF digital channel 32), branded on-air as TVA Gatineau–Ottawa, is a TVA- affiliated television station licensed to Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, which also serves Franco-Ontarians in the neighbouring capital city of ...

television station. Proceeds from the event go to local

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

across the

Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts and the Papineau region. Geographically, it is located on the north side of the Ottawa ...

region. * Each April, the school organizes a homelessness night in which students build cardboard houses to sleep outside for one night to increase awareness of poverty and homelessness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Versant High schools in Gatineau Educational institutions established in 2002 2002 establishments in Quebec