Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary was a secondary school in Hamilton, Ontario, before it closed in 2019. At the time of closing, it was the largest high school in the

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) is the public school board for the city of Hamilton. Established on January 1, 1998, via the amalgamation of the Hamilton and Wentworth County school boards, the board currently operates 93 e ...

(HWDSB). The school opened in 1970 and had an enrollment of 1250 students in 2009. At its peak, the student body represented over 80 countries of origin and the students had over 50 different native languages. The building has an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

that seats 750 people. The building is located at 130 York Boulevard,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, close to the city

Public Library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

and across the street from the Copps Coliseum and Lloyd D. Jackson Square Mall. As of 2019, the City of Hamilton and the HWDSB is planning to demolish the former school and build a community centre.

History

Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School was opened in 1970 to replace Hamilton's Central Secondary School. The school is named after former Canadian

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

. It became a semestered school in 1976.

Former programs

* Special Art Program: The Special Art Program at Sir John A. Macdonald was the oldest magnet program in the city with its origins dating back to the Hamilton Art School in the late 1800s. The program was meant to help students gain entry to post secondary art programs at colleges and universities. * WOW-World of Work: The World of Work program was focused on the skills and knowledge required for a career in the retail industry. * Restaurant Hospitality Pathway: The Restaurant Hospitality pathway program focused on the skills and knowledge required for a career in the restaurant industry. * Web Design and Computer Game Design Technologies: This program was to teach skills and knowledge required for a career in web design or computer game design. * Applied Design - Portfolio Program: This courses was meant to offer students the opportunity to upgrade studio skills or expand their existing portfolio after graduating from their home school. * Team Games Sport-Specific Program: This program allowed students to focus on sport specific skills necessary for either volleyball, or basketball or soccer. * Native Studies and Arts Program: The Native Studies and Arts program offered aboriginal and non-aboriginal students an opportunity to study native culture, issues and arts. * After School Literacy Program: Established to help prepare students for the OSSLT with special emphasis placed on ESL students and students new to the standardized testing format. * Memorial Bursary Program: Financial assistance program established to assist students who demonstrated good attendance and commitment to academics. * Credit Recovery Programs: System and Alter Ed credit recovery programs for junior and senior students who had experienced academic failure in the past. * ESL Reading Buddies: Designed to assist ESL students with their reading skills. * ESL Student Welcoming Committee: A program that introduced SJAM extracurricular activities to ESL grade 9 students by senior student mentors with teacher support. * Homework Club: After-school program that provided academic assistance for all grades with special emphasis on grade 9 and ESL students. * Nutrition Program: Attempted to ensure all students had access to proper nutrition by providing breakfast and lunch for students who required assistance. * NYA:WEH: Aboriginal Stay In School initiative * Traditional Drum & Dance Program: An after-school program that introduces students to the traditional art of aboriginal drumming and dance. * PLACES: In-school Alternative Education and Credit Recovery Program * SHAE: Aboriginal Alternative Education School at the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre * SISO: On-site counsellors which provided services to populations of newcomers with language needs. * Walk in Closet: Program that attempted allowed students access to clothing, personal hygiene products and school supplies.

Former clubs

* Art Club & Arts Festival * Breakfast Club * Business Education Awards * Canadian Blood Services *

Cheerleaders Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

Club *

Choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

* Communications Club * C.P.R. Training * DECA * Drug and Alcohol Education * Environmental/Hiking Club/Recycling * First Aid Committee * Grad Committee * Grad Gown Committee * History Club * Home Page Club * Knitter's Club * Mac Shack * Macdonald Athletic Council * Math Awards Luncheon * Math Contests * Needy Student Fund * New York Art Trip * Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program * Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving * Photography Club * Radio Station * Stage Crew * United Way * Visa Club * Walk In Closet * Yearbook Club *

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

* Cross Country * Fitness Club *

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

* Slo Pitch *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

External links

Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary SchoolSir John A. Macdonald School profile
{{coord, 43.2613, n, 79.8731, W, display=title High schools in Hamilton, Ontario Educational institutions established in 1970 Educational institutions disestablished in 2019 1970 establishments in Ontario 2019 disestablishments in Ontario John A. Macdonald Former schools in Ontario

History

Former programs

Former clubs

See also

External links