Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS) is a Canadian public combined junior and senior

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, which teaches grades 7 through 12. The junior (7–9) and senior high (10–12) programs share a common principal, many teachers, and other resources of the school. It is operated by the

Calgary Board of Education Calgary School District No. 19 or the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is the public school board in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As a public system, the CBE is required to accept any students who meet age and residency requirements, regardless of ...

. Queen Elizabeth High School serves as the Overflow Receiver of Western Canada High School and the Secondary Overflow School of Mount Royal School (as of March 2025). QEHS operates separately from Queen Elizabeth Elementary School, even though the two schools are physically adjacent to each other.

History

The school was founded in 1910 as "Bowview School" which was originally a boarding school. Evidence for this can be found above the south west entrance by the cafeteria, where the previous school name is displayed. It was renamed in 1953 to mark the coronation of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. The original three-storey building (which includes the Drama room that was the original auditorium and cafeteria) opened in 1930. A large addition (including the band room, wood shop, north gym, current offices, classrooms) was opened in 1953. The third addition was completed in 1967 and includes the library and science labs.

Academics

QEHS offers special programs for the CBE which are for students throughout the city, not just local students. Those outside the local area are given subsidized bus passes to attend the school.

Advanced Placement Program

QEHS is one of the many high schools in

to offer the

Advanced Placement Program Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewh ...

, which gives student a chance to enroll in university-level courses of their choice, equivalent to most universities' introductory courses. Depending on their score on the AP Exam, students can receive university credit for the AP course. As of the 2025-2026 School Year, QEHS offers AP courses in the following subjects:

AP Biology Advanced Placement (AP) Biology (also known as AP Bio) is an Advanced Placement biology course and exam offered by the College Board in the United States. For the 2012–2013 school year, the College Board unveiled a new curriculum with a greater ...

AP Chemistry Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry (also known as AP Chem) is a course and examination offered by the College Board as a part of the Advanced Placement Program to give American and Canadian high school students the opportunity to demonstrate thei ...

AP English Literature and Composition Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature and Composition (also known as Senior AP English, AP Lit, APENG, or AP English IV) is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program in the United State ...

, Calculus AB, AP Physics C (Electricity and Magnetism) and

AP Seminar AP Capstone, officially known as the Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma Program, is a two-year program for high school students in the United States, developed by the College Board. It consists of two courses: the AP Seminar and AP Research. St ...

, AP Research. It is the only high school in Calgary offering AP Physics C (Electricity & magnetism), and the AP Capstone Diploma, which consists of AP Seminar and AP Research.

Gifted students

QEHS is one of the CBE's schools to operate the

Gifted and Talented Education Gifted education (also known as gifted and talented education (GATE), talented and gifted programs (TAG), or G&T education) is a type of education used for children who have been identified as Intellectual giftedness, gifted or Talent (skill), tal ...

(GATE) program, which assists qualified students with more advanced instruction. GATE compacts and accelerates the typical curriculum. It combines Language Arts and Social Studies into one class (humanities) and it also provides extra experts and mentors. Currently, nine CBE schools offer the GATE program. The school is part of the Action for Bright Children Society.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing students

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Queen Elizabeth High school is a bilingual and bicultural program that supports Deaf students from grade 7 through 12 to participate in a mainstream environment. Interpreters are also provided, enabling equality and language accessibility. The Deaf students are placed in classrooms among hearing students with an interpreter who facilitates information using American Sign Language.

Alberta Ballet students

Students from across the city who attend The School of Alberta Ballet attend QEHS. Queen Elizabeth makes special accommodations for the students. Even though the

Alberta Ballet Alberta Ballet (also known as the Alberta Ballet Company) was founded by Muriel Taylor and Dr. Ruth Carse in 1958 and became a professional company in 1966. The company is a resident company of both the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmo ...

, not QEHS, actually provides the dance instruction, that instruction can be used to earn credits towards a high school diploma. QEHS is one of just two schools in the city with this special relationship, the other being Bishop Carroll High.

Student body

Mascot

The school's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

is a knight. A student is usually at

pep rally A pep rally, pep assembly or pep session is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school, and college age, before a school sporting event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support ...

events in the school wearing a suit of armor.

Knight's Fest

Every year the student leadership class hosts an event known as "Knights Fest" where students have a half day, and are able to enjoy activities such as bouncy castles and other various carnival themed activities, and there are stands where students can buy candy and knights themed merchandise. Live bands perform, notable past performers include Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and The Static Shift. This doesn't happen and ended in 2020.

Notable alumni

Rob Anders Robert J. Anders (born April 1, 1972) is a former Canadian politician. He represented the riding of Calgary West from 1997 until 2015 and was a founding member of the Conservative Party of Canada. On April 12, 2014, Anders was defeated by form ...

–

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP * Jay Beagle – NHL player *

Rosalind Groenewoud Rosalind Groenewoud (born December 10, 1989) is a Canadian freeskier, known as Roz G in the action sports world. She is the 2011 FIS World Champion in halfpipe, Groenewoud is also a 2012 Winter X Games champion x 2 (Aspen and Tignes) and has 3 s ...

– freeskier *

Nancy Huston Nancy Louise Huston, Order of Canada, OC (born September 16, 1953) is a Canadian novelist and essayist, a longtime resident of France, who writes primarily in French and translates her own works into English. Biography Huston was born in Calgary ...

–

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2024. He previously served as the 36th List of mayors of Calgary, mayor of Calgary for Mayoralty o ...

– the 36th Mayor of Calgary *

Sheilagh Ogilvie Sheilagh Catheren Ogilvie FBA (born 7 October 1958) is a Canadian historian, economist, and academic, specialising in economic history. Since 2020, she has been Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of A ...

– Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge *

Ken Read Kenneth John Read (born November 6, 1955) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada. He was a specialist in the downhill and a two-time Olympian. He won five World Cup races during his ten-year international career, all in downhill. ...

- Olympic alpine skier; international sport leader * Ted Stenson, film director whose 2020 film ''

Events Transpiring Before, During and After a High School Basketball Game ''Events Transpiring Before, During and After a High School Basketball Game'' is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Ted Stenson and released in 2020.Eric Volmers"Calgary filmmaker Ted Stenson heads back to school with Andrew Phung for indie debut" ...

'' was filmed at Queen Elizabeth High School in 2019Kevin Green
"Queen Elizabeth High School backdrop of new movie from Calgary filmmaker"
CTV Calgary, August 14, 2019.

References

External links

Official School Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Elizabeth Junior And Senior High School (Calgary) High schools in Calgary Middle schools in Calgary Educational institutions established in 1910 1910 establishments in Alberta