Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School (Burlington)

Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School
Address
2333 Headon Forest Drive Burlington , Ontario , L7M 3X6
Information
School type	Separate High School
Founded	1989
School board	Halton Catholic District School Board
Superintendent	Fiammetta Mazzetti
Principal	Stanley Gajewski
Grades	9 to 12
Enrollment	1,700 (2005)
Language	English, French Immersion
Mascot	Leprechaun
Team name	Fighting Irish
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Website	http://notredame.hcdsb.org/

Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School is a coeducational Catholic high school in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1989 by the Halton Catholic District School Board and currently enrolls students from the ninth to twelfth grades. Notre Dame's emblem is a small duelling leprechaun and, accordingly, the school's slogan is "Fightin' Irish".

In its first year, Notre Dame began by only enrolling ninth and tenth grade classes. Today it schools the Ontario standard of grades 9 through 12. With grade 13 recently being removed as a requirement for graduation in Ontario, many grade twelve graduates return for an optional extra year.

School population

The school enrolled slightly over 1700 students in the 2004-2005 school year and over 1900 for the 2005-2006 year as a result of the surrounding cities' increasing growth. As of 2005, there were 25 portables to contain the increasing overflow of classes and students. It receives most new students from local elementary schools including Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Gabriel, St. Timothy, St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Mark, and Canadian Martyrs.

Notre Dame, like all publicly funded Catholic schools in Ontario, also accepts non-Catholics into the school; however, they are expected to take part in the religious activities and mandatory religious classes.

Home to town hero Justin Baird who is famous for his hit single "Don't Swing By the Pond" and is currently working on a new one. Rumors have say it will be called "Don't wobble my foot".

The Catholic school's parishes are St. Paul the Apostle and St. Gabriel. It belongs to the Diocese of Hamilton, under Bishop Anthony Tonnos.

School life

In the 2006-2007 school year there are 29 portables and approximately 1900 students enrolled. With over 150 staff and teachers, Notre Dame's full population is appoximately 2000-2100 people. This results in sometimes over-crowded areas of the school, as Notre Dame was built to house 1500 students optimally.

Athletics

Notre Dame is widely known for being very competitive and successful athletically. Notre Dame recently won seven GHAC (Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference) championship titles in the 2004-2005 school year, and won 15 Halton Region championships. Over the past several years, a few teams have placed in the top three at OFSAA (Ontario Provincial Championships), including the Senior Girls' field hockey Team, Varsity Girls' ice hockey , Open Girls Swim Team and the Senior Girls' soccer Team.

There is an annual athletic banquet held near the beginning of June which honors the MVPs and best athletes of the year from every sport and grade. Approximately 400-500 students attend the event, which is well known throughout the school for its comical videos put together by several of the physical education teachers.

Kilt Krew

Notre Dame has a group of male senior students referred to as "The Kilt Krew". They are a group of kilt wearing cheerleaders that attend many sporting events that Notre Dame is involved in, to encourage students to cheer on the team. They are led by a student dubbed "Speedo Man" who can often be seen running across the field in a green speedo at half-time or pre-game. A new "Speedo Man" is generally selected every few years. In the 2006-2007 school year, the Kilt Krew was banned for getting caught drinking at the senior football season opener at Nelson Stadium.

With a bad start to the season the Notre Dame Kilt Krew came back with two huge half time shows at Ivor Wynne that had both junior and senior football teams from Nelson and Notre Dame. Notre Dame's tradition of the Kilt Krew will continue throughout the years suporting the diverse amounts of promising sports teams that Notre Dame has to offer.

Other extracurriculars

• Jazz band
• Concert band
• Chess club
• Political society
• Model United Nations
• School play (Once every two years)
• Social Justice Group

Academics

Notre Dame has a wide array of courses in many different areas of interest. Students with an 79.5 percent overall average or above are recognized by being placed on the school's honor roll. Students with the highest average in a course and students who have the highest overall averages of each grade are also recognized.

School uniform

Notre Dame requires students to wear full school uniform at all times upon entering the building. The strict uniform is intended to create a sense of community and develop a sense of pride and self-discipline. Students must purchase all uniform items from R. J. McCarthy Company.

In 2004, Notre Dame introduced an optional dark blue, fleece sweater to the uniform policy, that is personalized to include the owner's name, name of their sport or club and the school's emblem. Once every month there is a casual dress day called Civies Day, when students may wear appropriate non-uniform clothes.

Staff

There are currently over 100 full-time teachers employed at Notre Dame. There is one principal (Stanley Gajewski), and three vice principals. There are several day-time and night-time janitors.

Past administration

• Peter Visser, Principal, 1990-1996
• Paul Thompson, Principal,1996-2005
• Vincent Aresta, Vice-Principal, 2002-2005

External links

• Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School Website
• Halton Catholic District School Board Website