George S. Henry Academy is a semestered

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 ...

high 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 '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the

Toronto District School Board The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...

History

The initial opening of George S. Henry Secondary School was scheduled for September 7, 1965. However, there was a strike among workers. Some of the workers went back to work at the end of the summer, but it was not possible to open the school on time. During the fall, students had to share

Don Mills Collegiate Institute Don Mills Collegiate Institute (DMCI) is a high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the Don Mills neighbourhood, it serves an ethnically diverse student population of approximately 1000. As of 2017, 67% of students speak a first languag ...

and

Victoria Park Collegiate Institute Victoria Park Collegiate Institute (commonly known as Victoria Park C.I., Victoria Park, Vic Park, VP, and VPCI); formerly Victoria Park Secondary School, is a collegiate institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located south of York Mills R ...

. Don Mills students attended from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and Henry students went from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. George S. Henry Secondary School was finally opened on December 6, 1965, with the official opening held on Thursday January 27, 1966. Guest speakers included Mr. John 'Jack' Foote, the principal at the time, as well as Mr.

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...

, the

Premier of Ontario The premier of Ontario (french: premier ministre de l'Ontario) is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly of On ...

. An addition to the school was opened on February 16, 1972. This addition included the two floors of classes on the west side of the school as well as a new gymnasium and a pool. The school was named after

George Stewart Henry George Stewart Henry (July 16, 1871 – September 2, 1958) was a farmer, businessman and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as the tenth premier of Ontario from 1930 to 1934. He had acted as minister of highways while Ontario greatly ex ...

(1871–1958) – a farmer, businessman and politician in Ontario. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1913 as a Conservative. The school was built on the Home Farm portion of the estate before housing development occurred, just east of Mr. Henry's "home". It was a Georgian "palace" complete with ornate gardens, statuary and fountains. Its nine-hole golf course was used by some of the early student body. The mansion alone remains as a social centre.

Uniforms

George S. Henry Academy has a strict policy on uniforms which was instituted during the 1997–98 school year. Prior to that, the students were not required to wear uniforms and the student body voted in 1996 to bring the uniforms back. Students were required to wear a polo shirt, being short-sleeved or long-sleeved, that comes in black or white, or a sweater that comes in black or grey, both with the Henry crest on them. Recently, starting the year 2013, the school had been lenient on their uniform policy, allowing their students to wear any type of pants regardless of the colour. Starting in the 2022-2023 school year, uniforms were no longer required.

50th-anniversary reunion

2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the school's opening. The reunion was to have taken place on Friday May 29 and Saturday May 30. All former students and teachers were invited.georgeshenry50threunion.ca

References

External links

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Toronto District School Board
{{Authority control High schools in Toronto Educational institutions established in 1965 1965 establishments in Ontario