What are the Best High Schools in Toronto?

[Marques89]

As I had promised the previous poster in this thread, I will talk about my time at Haig as a music major in their Claude Watson arts program, spanning my entire high school career.

There is literally a fit for everyone here. Whether you're artsy (you better be in the CW program then!), athletic, fob...

It’s good to see previous posters give high opinions of Earl Haig, and I vouch for their high ratings too. Haig was newly renovated in the late 90’s, so there’s plenty of skylights and nice sunlight streaming in =) most facilities are pretty new, classrooms are well-equipped (although the caf may run out of chairs during lunch… reflective of the school’s popularity among students). Last I checked, we had 83 clubs and councils, many hallway fundraisers for charities and school activities, partnerships with elementary schools both in the area as well as in priority areas elsewhere in the city; it’s a very “Liberal” (not meant as a political affiliation) style of doing things: generously, with spirit, positive environment to interact with others. In my graduating year we had 3 students accepted into Cornell U in the States, 4 people accepted into McMaster’s health sci program, probably 12 U of T Scholar designates, a 4-year full-tuition scholarship recipient for studies at U of T (not saying who ), the list goes on.
Obviously, the school is academically strong. We have enriched English, math, French, science, geography, Canadian history, etc. classes, many for as many years as needed to be taken for a student’s OSSD requirements. We have multiple classroom-full amounts of students writing every national and North American math, science, etc. contest there is available. No they’re not all Asian contestants! (alright, 80-something percent). Haig’s students take part in poetry, French speech arts, computer programming, etc. competitions each year. Fortunately (or unfortunately) this is predominantly not because we have exceptionally supportive or knowledgeable teachers, but because the students come from families whose backgrounds are cultured/well-off/with high expectations for their kids. Granted, the vast majority of collegiate students are Asian: Korean, Cantonese, mainland Chinese, some Japanese. Heck, the local TD bank signs with Korean symbols reflects this! Any non-Asian student you see is probably a Claude Watson student, speaking of which…
Perhaps the school is equally known for, if not more famous for, its Claude Watson arts program. As a former music major in the program, I cannot reliably give an account of how good the other disciplines in the program were, but like I said in the previous post, I cannot recommend the music program enough for those who are seriously considering a future in music or simply have a burning passion for it.
It’s got teachers from professional music backgrounds (of course some are better than others) and consistently produces musically promising students each year. Professional musicians and the ward trustee send their kids here too =) Notable, relatively recent graduates include Melanie Leishman, Sabrina Jalees, Leonard Gilbert, Jake Epstein, and Gabi Epstein. In my year there was a student who came all the way from Montreal to study here in the program. There are partnerships formed with professional music groups (professional composers like Andrew Staniland, Juliet Palmer; Juno award-winning Gryphon Trio, Amici Ensemble, etc.) who come each year to “commission” projects of students, perform them, and record them on CD for students to take home and share! Each year the music department holds many concerts at professional venues across the city, as well as compete and music competitions both local and national. Outside of the music department, the CW directors also call in professional companies to perform especially for Claudies, exclusive events for Claudies, and at the end of each year there are awards for exceptional students in the program. It is a very unique hands-on experience to complement the regular academic subjects, although it does require some compromises timetabling-wise as I recall. However for me I am grateful to have been “adopted” and thus accepted into a school in a better socioeconomic region of the city, and ultimately helping me to realize my artistic potential.
As an added bonus, www.earlhaig.ca is a well-maintained website of all school happenings! If you weren’t lucky enough to be a part of the Haig experience, this is the next best thing. According to figures from the TDSB website (http://www.tdsb.on.ca/about_us/budge...?schoolid=3430), Haig is the richest high school in the board, $666,166 in 2009-10 committed to its operations (thanks in large part to CW, but also due to its large enrolment: highest in the TDSB)(for comparison, the runner-up high school gets ~$440000). This allows for the school to spend a bit more on treats for example for holidays, allocate significantly more funds for scholarships than at other high schools, allocate more funds for club functions, etc.

Two concrete figures that vouch for Earl Haig’s prestige in the public school system:
-largest student body in the TDSB
-students from out of the area (York Region, Etobicoke, downtown’s rich areas… Scarborough, oh yeah, the North Toronto CI area too ) attend here. Even for collegiate student status… shhh…

TBC: my thoughts and experiences with other TDSB high schools, personal and by word-of-mouth.

THANK YOU!!
I really appreciate it, i will bring it up to my mom and dad
it is far from where i am located
so i don't know if my mom will choose it
im just wondering what do you know about mihcael power??

OR if anyone else reading this knows about michael power??

but thank you soo much jennifer

[Kherani]

I go to a ghetto school, I do ****-all and I get high marks because everyone is stupid. Worked out well, I'm eligible for a lot of scholarships because my school is in an "under-privileged" area.

[AzN_RiverdaleCI]

Im sure I posted in this thread before but I will write a review on Riverdale C.I. hopefully

[okano]

lol
i went to albert campbell many years ago
i think it is one of the most extreme two sided school in toronto
they are either very good and belong to the gifted side or fight in the forest behind it every once in awhile

[MolecularArchitect]

Here's my dimes worth:

- I definitely agree with Jennifer, having personal experience in the matter, Earl Haig really is a top school, with a warm, vibrant environment, and many many opportunities even for those outside of the Claude Watson program.
- I would once again make the point, knowing many students that attend the school, Newtonbrook is ridiculously overrated. For those in North York (I don't know how inner- city schools compare) it is very much an average school- large groups of brain- dead, apathetic kids smoking up between classes, etc.
- In York Region, the top schools are probably Thornhill, and Bayview S.S.. With respects to Vaughan S.S., the school is also very much overrated. While there are some truly outstanding teachers, there are very few opportunities available to high school students, and the student body itself has deteriorated substantially in quality; most of the intelligent students who might have attended Vaughan in the past, now go to the gifted program at Thornhill. The general atmosphere in the building is also not that great.
- While I don't know much about Westmount CI, on the basis of hear- say, there is a general attitude that the school is overrated, and that use of marijuana (as at Vaughan) is pervasive there.

That said, I was wondering about the relative merits of William Lyon Mackenzie, Don Mills CI, Northern and Thornhill, particularly Don Mills. If you look at math and science contests, the school is clearly tops (probably 2nd only to UTS), however, it seems that they've had their fair share of stabbings recently...

[meisterme]

AY Jackson SS' students always scored first place in national physics competitions, and has been one of the top schools in UofT National Bio Competition and a variety of provincial and national computer, chemistry, business, and accounting competitions as well. Most of the grads from AY attend UofT and Waterloo. I don't have any stats but I can tell you that many grads I knew from my year became doctors and investment bankers in the end and most of the rest became engineers, healthcare professionals, and other financial professionals.

Also Earl Haig is another great school.

[virgilaug]

Stay away from Northern Secondary. That place is a dump with very poor quality of teaching. All they have going for them is good sports teams and a program for hearing impaired students. If those are not you then stay away. On the other hand North Toronto Collegiate Institute which is just up the road from there is a very good school. Quite the contrast. Oh, and I went to Northern Secondary.