L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute

L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute
Address
2501 Bridletowne Circle Toronto , Ontario , M1W 2K1 Canada
Coordinates	43°48′6.93″N 79°19′4.31″W
Information
School type	Public high school
Motto	Freedom with Responsibility
Founded	1973
School board	Toronto District School Board (Scarborough Board of Education)
Superintendent	Mark Sprack
Area trustee	Manna Wong
School number	4226 / 920576
Administrator	Johnson Lo
Principal	Bernard Lee
Grades	9-12
Enrolment	584 (2016-2017)
Language	English
Houses	Incendium, Pelagus, Zephyrus and Telluris
Colour(s)	Royal blue and gold
Mascot	St. Bernard
Team name	L'Amoreaux Saints
Website	schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/lamoreaux/

L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute (or L'Am for short) is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada founded in 1973. It is located in the L'Amoreaux neighbourhood of the former suburb of Scarborough. Originally part of the Scarborough Board of Education, it is now consolidated into the Toronto District School Board. In 2020, the school had an enrolment of 439 representing 46% of its 957 total capacity.^[1] The number of students at L'am for whom English is an additional language is more than double the provincial average (60% vs. 23%) as is the number of students who are new to Canada from a non-English speaking country (10% vs. 5.1%). The area feeding the school also contends with an over-representation of children from lower-income households at (30% vs ~18%).^[2] Despite these challenges, 81% passed the Grade 10 literacy test on their first attempt in 2021-2022; essentially identical to the provincial average.^[3] The motto of the school is "Freedom with Responsibility".

History

The ultimate origins of L'Amoreaux Collegiate date back to 1868 when S.S. No. 1 opened what later became L'Amoreaux Public School. Located in the northwestern L'Amoreaux neighbourhood, S.S. No. 1 was located on the northeastern corner of Finch and Birchmount.^[4] It was demolished in 1970 to eliminate intersection jog.^{[citation needed]} The date stone is now in the foyer of Silver Springs Public School.^{[citation needed]}

The collegiate itself, designed by the noted Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama,^[5] was constructed in 1971 and opened on 4 September 1973 on Bridletowne Circle, just northeast of Warden and Finch, as Scarborough's sixteenth collegiate and twenty-first high school. Its distinctive architecture, (arguably postmodern^[6]) and interior design, includes a large, tiered Central Market Square later named after Rollit J Goldring,^[7] the first principal of the school, instead of the standard auditoriums of similar-sized facilities which tend to be largely unused. The interior design makes use of Moriyama's trademark angular interiors made of concrete, and hallways which feature generous use of colour to set off 'neighbourhoods'. The school hallway appeared in the rock band Rush's 1982 video for the single "Subdivisions".

R.J. Goldring delivering the Principal's Message 1974-75

Overview

Campus

Map of the internal layout of the building

L'Amoreaux Collegiate has 161,512 square feet (15,005.0 m²) of space located in 15 acres (6.1 ha). It is a 2-story school with classrooms on the lower floor and the main office in the second. There are around 24 classrooms, six science labs, three art rooms, three music rooms, five computer laboratories (including a communications technology laboratory), four vocational shops for technical design and construction, the Rollit J. Goldring Market Square, a cafetorium with a stage, four gymnasia with the larger one having the ability to be portioned into two with the smaller gyms built in between, a 25m swimming pool shared with the city, the main office and guidance offices located on the second floor, and the 400m standard track and football/soccer field. There are two small portables and one large portapak (Adult ESL Center). The school hallways and lockers have distinctive accent colours of red, yellow, green and blue moving from the front (South) of the school to the back (North).

Houses

From the 2017-2018 school year, students are in one of four houses selected randomly at the start of the year: Incendium, Pelagus, Telluris and Zephyrus (Latin for the four elements). Siblings are grouped in the same house to avoid any rivalry. The original 'House system' comprised: Edwards, Kennedy, Purcell, Tomlinson, Scadding and White with yearbooks organized accordingly. ^[8] According to an article by Carol Tennant in L'Amoreaux Life, a community newspaper, at least five of the original houses were named after well-known local ministers, teachers, land donors and farmers.

Courses

Specialist High Skills Major Programs

L'Amoreaux is one of the schools in the TDSB, which offers three Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) programs, and offers programs in Business and Finance, Information and Communication Technology, as well as Health and Wellness. Students enrolled in SHSM receive an extra seal with their diploma.

Extended French and Spanish

L'Amoreaux offers the Honors Extended French Programs, in which students on the Extended French track can graduate with a bilingual certificate. Spanish is also offered.

Robotics engineering

L'Amoreaux is one of the few schools that offers a robotics course as well as the club. Students in the course learn about engineering and the engineering process, robot systems and programming, and robots in society. Robotics engineering is a project-based course and assignments include building two VEX EDR Robots, which are entered into the worldwide VEX Robotics Competition. Students in the course also help build the FIRST Robotics Competition robot.

Extra-curricular

Sports

Sports at L'Amoreaux currently include: Badminton (girls), Basketball (boys), Basketball (girls), Cricket (mixed), Cross Country (mixed), Dragon Boat (mixed), Field Hockey (girls), Soccer (boys), Soccer (girls), Swimming (mixed), Volleyball (boys), Volleyball (girls)

Clubs

Clubs at L’Amoreaux currently include: Athletic Council, Black Student Alliance, Boyz to Men, Chess Club, Christian Fellowship, Debate Club, Drama, Equity and Student Advocacy, Formal Committee, Girl Talk, L’Amoreaux Pride LGBT+, L’Amoreaux Prefects (formerly PALS), LESS, Model United Nations, Muslim Student Association, Radio L’Am, Robotics, School Action Team, Student Activity Council, United Cultures @ L’Am, Yearbook.

Notable alumni

• Charlie Angus: author, journalist, broadcaster, musician and politician. Formed the band L'Etranger while at L'Am.
• John Anderson: Former NHL player with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques. Later IHL, AHL and NHL coach ^{[9] [10]}
• Joel Brough: Field Hockey player: World University Games (1991), Summer Olympic Games (Barcelona, 1992), Pan American Games (1995)and two world championships.^[11]
• Paul Humphrey: Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, lead singer for the 1980s Canadian New Wave band Blue Peter.^[12]
• Dan Gallagher: Canadian broadcaster, DJ/VJ and co-founder of Radio L'am.
• Tracy Lamourie: activist, celebrity publicist
• Sandra Levy: Olympic field hockey player (1988, 1992), sports ambassador and African Canadian Achievement Award of Excellence winner
• Alvin Leung: "Demon Chef" on MasterChef Canada TV show. ^[13]
• Maestro Fresh Wes: hip hop artist and producer^[14]
• Behn Wilson: Former NHL defenseman for 9 seasons with the Chicago Black Hawks and Philadelphia Flyers. ^[15]
• Ellen Wong: actor

Yearbook Covers

1974-1975 Yearbook cover-L'Amoreaux C.I. "Diamonds In The Rough"^[16]

1976-1977 Yearbook cover-L'Amoreaux C.I. "Memories"^[17]

1978-1979 Yearbook cover-L'Amoreaux C.I. The Book of Saints^[18]

L'Amoreaux C.I. 2022-2023 Yearbook

L'Amoreaux CI 2021-2022 Yearbook

See also

• Education in Ontario
• List of secondary schools in Ontario

References

1. "Ward-20-LAmoreaux-CI-School-Info" (PDF). Toronto Lands Corporation Ward-20-LAmoreaux-CI-School-Info. March 17, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
2. "School Information Finder (gov.on.ca)". School Information Finder. Jan 15, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
3. "EQAO's 2022-2023 Ontario Secondary Schools Literacy Test (OSSLT)" (PDF). eqao.com.
4. "L'Amoreaux Public School I and II". TorontoHistory.net. Toronto Historical Society. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
5. "Moriyama Teshima Project Directory". Retrieved 28 June 2023.
6. "L'AMOREAUX PUBLIC SCHOOL I AND II". Architectural Conservancy Ontario. Architectural Conservancy Ontario. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
7. "Rollit James GOLDRING". legacy.com. Toronto Star on Nov. 4, 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
8. "Memories 1976-77 : [yearbook]". Toronto Public Library. L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
9. "John Anderson Stats And News | NHL.com". NHL.com. May 31, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
10. Keeler, Arlie (November 12, 1974). "Marlie impatient for big money". Toronto Star. pp. C5.
11. "Joel Brough (2012) Hall of Fame". York University Lions Hall of Fame. York University. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
12. Brad Wheeler (April 16, 2021). "Singer Paul Humphrey made Blue Peter seem 'too cool to be Canadian'". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
13. Wong, Tony (Jan 31, 2015). "MasterChef Canada's Alvin Leung: 'Untalented people need not apply'". thestar.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
14. "Maestro Fresh Wes Class Act".
15. ""Behn Wilson Stats And News | NHL.com"". NHL.com. NHL.com. May 31, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
16. "373.71354 LAM LAM 1974/1975". Yearbook. L'Amoreaux C.I. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
17. "373.71354 LAM MEM 1976/1977". Memories. L'Amoreaux C.I. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
18. "373.71354 LAM LAM 1978/1979". Yearbook. L'Amoreaux C.I. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

External links

• L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute
• TDSB profile