Leamington District Secondary School - Phoebus Yearbook (Leamington, Ontario Canada)

Page 28 text:

F. BURLOW C. MALOTT B. DUNPHY J. ENGLEBRECHT GEO. SLANEY E. LAMB The caretaking and maintenance of the school is under die direction of Mr. George Slaney, who has held this position for the past ten years. This staff has five other members, F. Burlow, J. Engle- brecht, B. Dunphy, E. Lamb and C. Malott. There are 53 rooms in the new building requiring a cleaning schedule each day. The heating system and main¬ tenance adds considerable work during the year. The pleasing appearance of our building indicates a good caretaking staff. iDtcjanizaiion oj the Jd aniLncjton JdcfiooC iBui cz outei . . . The six school buses are owned and operated by Mr. C. A. Bailey of Leamington. With eight bus lines in use, two of the buses must make two runs daily. Over 400 students ride to and from school by bus, and the mileage travelled daily is over 700 miles. Buses arrive before or at 20 minutes to nine each morning and leave at 4:10 each day. The new parking area at the side of the new school is used for loading and unloading of the buses. olioo[ dfouxi. and ulatiom The length of each period is 34 minutes with the usual 3 minute warning bell before the end of each period. Classes begin at 9:05 and the school day is completed at 4:00. Instead of the former ten periods, we now have twelve, with the last period devoted to school activities. Each lunch hour is 34 minutes long and there are three lunch hours be¬ ginning at 11:25 and ending at 1:03. After lunch students have a 34 minute noon period; the reason for the long period is to permit those students living near the school to go home if they so wish. All students remaining at the school must eat lunch in the cafeteria but they may bring their own lunch if they desire to do so. When afternoon classes com¬ mence, there is no returning to a home room for books, as we all have lockers in the halls for our books, uniforms, and personal belongings. The same rule of walking in single file applies in the new building as it did in the old. —DON ANTOI.

Page 27 text:

The cafeteria In our new school is built to seat three hundred students. The meals are served in three shifts: Grade 9 at 11.21, grades 10, 12 and Special Commercial at 11.55 and grades 11 and 13 at 12.29. Those students, going home for lunch have 68 minutes and must not return until five minutes before their afternoon class. They then proceed to their lockers using the Cast stairs. Students may purchase tickets in the corridor by the cafeteria. The plate lunch, consisting of meat, potatoes, a vegetable, bread and butter, sells at 25c. There Is a choice between chocolate and white milk and sells at 5ct Ice cream or an¬ other dessert is also 5c extra. The washrooms on the first floor are available before and after the lunch period. Students are not allowed to leave the cafeteria until all are dismissed by the teacher in charge. Students buying the plate lunch will always line up in single file, those who are not buying are allowed to form a second line. After the student has finished his lunch he returns all dishes to the wicket, puts all paper and garbage in the containers provided and wipes all crumbs from the tray and places It back on the pile. For the remaining 34 minutes the students may go to a study room or may go outside if the weather is favourable unless they have an activity. —PAT WHITTLE

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C7 z£ of tfiz Jlzamuicjton ( J i±hict cJ-ficjH JScfiooC From a small four-roomed school, revamped from an old house, has grown one of Ontario ' s most modem, and beautiful schools in both structure and equipment. The history of this school is most interesting, from the very first letter requesting John Elliott to accept the position of principal in the remodeled school, to the last brick of the new building finished in 1953. On September 9, 1895, the president of the Post Printing Company, printers of the Leamington Post, J. C. Johnson wrote to John Elliott of Walkerton asking him to consider the position of principal of Leaming¬ ton High School. The letter read: We have pur¬ chased for three thousand dollars, two acres of the finest grounds in Ontario and we want the best school west of London. L. H. S. opened formally January 7, 1896 with John Elliott, B.A., as principal. He remained prin¬ cipal until 1906, with Nellie Decou, B.A., and Lennie M. Scratch, B.A., as the assistant teaching staff. There were one hundred and five students enrolled, fifty from Leamington, fifteen from Gosfield South, eighteen from Mersea, twelve from Kingsville and one from South Colchester. The report of the school inspector ' s first visit in 1898 stated: Accommodations far too limited, class rooms far too small, but for a school so recently established, has made excellent progress. As history continues, the Friday afternoon of November 4, 1902 brought the first school sports which proved quite successful. The prizes were furnished by friends of the school. Also in 1902 the first At Home was held in the school. In 1908 four additional class rooms were added. Then, as further additions were made, we find from the historical beginning in a 1924 edition of our Phoebus”, then called The Moon , the following: In 1922, the original building purchased from Lewis Wigle was taken down and replaced by the present commodious and up-to-date structure which so well meets our modern needs. There are six new class¬ rooms besides a fine gymnasium. Commercial classes were first organized in Sep¬ tember 1923 with an attendance of thirty-seven. Now this department has grown so considerably that a commercial teaching staff of six teachers is neces¬ sary. In 1931, music was introduced into the curricu¬ lum. Seven years later home economics and shop- work accommodations were added. Our comparatively new and very successful House System was begun in 1940. This system supplies the school with keen competition among the students. An increased enrolment made the addition of three temporary rooms necessary in 1945 and caused the School Board to purchase ten acres of land for improvements in 1946. Also in this year they signed a contract to transport two hundred rural students to and from school each day. The year 1947 brought plans for a new building to accommodate four to five hundred students, since the school building then was showing signs of crowdedness. In 1949 the area of bus routes was enlarged to include the village of Wheatley and a portion of the township of Romney. Plans were continued for the new high schcol until in 1950 they had to be re-drafted to accommodate the increased enrolment. These plans, as the final drafts, were approved by the municipalities and the Department of Education in 1951. Then in March 1952 construction was started by the Foundation Company of Canada. Premier Leslie Frost laid the comer-stone that same year. In 1951 the cadets became affiliated with the R.C.A.F. under the direction of Mr. R. M. Nicholson. A pipe band was established in 1952 with fifteen members, directed by Mr. Jock Copland. Classes began for the first time in the new build¬ ing this September 1953 with a great deal of success. We, the students of Leamington District High School are proud of our past name and history, but we aim in the future to surpass even our previous achievements. —BARBARA BASTION