Western Technical-Commercial School is a high school in the
High Park North
High Park North, or often simply High Park, after the park, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded on the south by Bloor Street, on the west by Runnymede Road, on the north by Annette Street, and on the east by the GO Trans ...
neighbourhood of
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
administered by the
Toronto District School Board
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...
. It shares the same building with
Ursula Franklin Academy
Ursula Franklin Academy (colloquially known as UFA; pronounced as oo-faa) is a public high school run by the Toronto District School Board in Canada's largest city. UFA was founded in 1995 and is named after the activist and experimental physici ...
and The Student School. The school was founded in 1927 and was part of the
Toronto Board of Education
The Toronto Board of Education (TBE; commonly known as School District 15), officially known as the Board of Education for the City of Toronto, is the former secular school district serving the Old Toronto, pre-merged city of Toronto. The board o ...
until 1998.
Originally two schools when it was opened, Western Branch Technical School and Western High School of Commerce, the present school is now the product of the merger of the two.
Western, commonly called WTCS or Western Tech, offers courses from grade 9 through 12 in Academic and Gifted levels. In 2022, it was reported to have 1139 total students enrolled. The school population in 2024-25 was approximately 1430 students.
History
The main
Collegiate Gothic
Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
building was constructed in 1927 by architect Charles Edmund Cyril Dyson with the addition being constructed in 1967–1970. The school features amenities such as a pool and two gyms, a greenhouse, a large library, and a media lab.
The school has been used as a filming location for a number of movies and TV shows, including ''Billy Madison'', ''Being Erica'', and ''The Queen's Gambit''.
Media
In the 2000s, Western Tech students started a newspaper titled ''The Hidden Agenda'', with issues printed as recently as 2011 and some online activity in 2012. It reported on student events and was run by students with final approval by the administration. In the 2022/2023 academic year, it was revived under the name ''The Horseshoe''.
Athletics
The school has a wide variety of teams and intramurals, from the traditional soccer, basketball, hockey, water polo and baseball to ping pong and a Reach for the Top quiz team. Intramurals include floor hockey, volleyball, and basketball, among others. Western has a full size pool, and runs Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross courses at greatly reduced prices for students of the school. Current aquatics leadership students are welcomed to assist in teaching the program.
Manufacturing Technology/Robotics
Western Technical-Commercial School offers a number of manufacturing technology courses utilizing the schools machine shop facilities. The school also has a successful
FIRST Robotics
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build ...
team (865/Warp7).
Notable alumni
*
J. P. Anderson
Jon-Paul "J. P." Anderson (born April 27, 1992) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He most recently played for the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.
Anderson played in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and was a standout with the M ...
- hockey player
*
Gwendolyn MacEwen
Gwendolyn Margaret MacEwen (1 September 1941 – 29 November 1987) was a Canadian poetry, Canadian poet and novelist.Don McKenzie - football, building superintendent at Maple Leaf Gardens
*
Bill Quackenbush
Hubert George Quackenbush (March 2, 1922 – September 12, 1999), known as Bill Quackenbush, was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League. During his 14-y ...
- hockey player
See also
*
Education in Ontario
Education in Ontario comprises public and private primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions. Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and u ...
*
List of secondary schools in Ontario
The following is a list of secondary schools in Ontario. Secondary education policy in the Canadian province of Ontario is governed by the Ministry of Education. Secondary education in Ontario includes Grades 9 to 12. The following list includes ...