Unionville High School is a public high school of the York Region District School Board in Ontario, Canada. It is located west of the community of Unionville in the city of Markham. The school is located next to the Markham Civic Centre and the Markham Theatre.
Unionville High School is most well known for its enriched arts program, Arts Unionville (formerly known as Arts York). The school was purpose-built to house this regional arts program, therefore it has enhanced arts facilities. Arts Unionville is divided into 4 categories: visual arts, music, dance, and drama. In order to gain entry into the program, grade eight to nine students are required to audition.
History
In the mid-1970s, Superintendent Stephen Bacsalmsi proposed the idea of an advanced arts program for the region. The Ontario government accepted the idea, but needed to wait for a new high school to be built. When Unionville High School was under construction, the government decided it was a prime opportunity to initiate the program. The school was finished and opened to the public in 1985, with the schools west wing constructed in the Spring of 2002.
Unionville High School also became the first school outside the United States to participate in the Apple Digital Campus Curriculum (ADCC) in 2002.
In 2005, Sheila Hetherington and Jerry Berridge, teachers in the history and tech departments, were recipients of the Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. In 2006, the same two teachers later received the Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence. For the 2007-08 teaching year, Donna McAdam was a recipient of the Premier's Awards for Teaching Excellence. The two documentaries created during this course, When We Were Young and Never Shall We Forget, were of broadcast standard and aired on TVO.
Facilities
The facilities at Unionville High include a visual arts room, communication/media lab, construction lab, design and technology lab, dance studios, music rooms, music practice rooms, drama rooms, a black box theatre, family studies labs, a photography blackroom, science labs, a resource centre, classrooms, a guidance office, two gymnasiums, two outdoor fields, an outdoor track, a weight room, washrooms and shower facilities, student cafeteria with microwaves and vending machines, a student council office, a yearbook office, student parking facilities, a staff dining room, and staff workrooms.
There are approximately 300 computers in the school, divided between 9 computer labs. Notably, two of the computer labs employ Apple computers, as a part of the Apple Digital Campus.
While officially being two separate properties, the school as well as the Markham Theatre are connected via a tunnel. The theatre occasionally hosts school assemblies as well as performances from the Arts Unionville program.
Programs
Arts Unionville program
Arts Unionville, formally known as Arts York, is a four-year program that high school students take concurrently with the mainstream academic program. The high school enrols students from all over the Greater Toronto Area. In 2010, due to school board changes, Arts York was forced to change their program name to Arts Unionville and will only take students from the Markham area, except for piano and stringed instruments. Class 2012 was the last year of Arts York. However, in the 2009–10 school year, the program was renamed "Arts Unionville" Shortly after, the York Region District School Board removed funding for busing, thus eliminating transportation means for long-distance students attending the program. As a result, students were forced to drop out. The decision was protested by many parents and students, and after hiring a lawyer, they settled out of court to have funding for bus transportation reinstated for the rest of the 2008–2009 school year. Students living in areas not around Unionville were expected to attend arts schools in their own districts. As a result, the pool of talent for these programs has significantly declined.
Musical arts
The Musical Arts department is the biggest section of Arts Unionville at Unionville High School. There are four classrooms for music situated in the east wing of the school directly adjacent to the underground link to the Markham Theatre. With its strategic placement, it is often said amongst faculty, staff, and students that the Music department is located in its own east wing.
The Arts Unionville Music program is separated into six categories: piano, winds, strings, vocal, brass, and percussion.