Abbey Park High School

Academics

Academically, Abbey Park is among the strongest secondary schools in Ontario ranking 7 overall and first in Oakville. Abbey Park offers a variety of enrichment programs such as the Cluster Program for high achieving students, two Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) programs for business and the social sciences as well as an Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) for fashion. Recently, Abbey Park began offering the Advanced Placement Calculus, Advanced Placement Biology and Advanced Placement Statistics courses. Abbey Park students continue to succeed in math competitions often earning regional, provincial and national recognition; Abbey Park ranked number two in Oakville, in its math contests performance in the year 2011-2012.

Abbey Park students have also been very successful in the Bay Area Science And Engineering Fair (BASEF) interregional competition. In 2010, a student from Abbey Park won second best in fair and progressed to Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). In 2012, two Abbey Park students progressed to ISEF, one of whom won the best in fair award. In 2013, one Abbey Park student progressed to ISEF and won second best in fair. In 2014, two Abbey Park students won gold merit awards and progressed to Canada Wide Science Fair (CWSF).

Drama

The dramatic arts program at Abbey Park attracts many students to participate in its clubs and productions.

Every year, Abbey Park organizes a team to compete in the Canadian Improv Games, a national tournament for high school improv. Abbey Park's teams have been consistently strong over the years, and won the silver medal at the 2009 National Tournament, placing 15th nationally in 2008.

Scripted dramatic productions are also very popular at Abbey Park. Each November, Abbey Park puts on a dramatic production (known as Fall Production within the school). A group of less formal productions are organized in the spring for Abbey Park's Show of Hands Drama Festival, where any group of students may perform.

Music

Abbey Park has several different bands that perform at various shows throughout the year:

Visual

Abbey Park has an Arts Club that any student is welcome to join. The club meets on a weekly basis throughout the year and focuses on creating visual art pieces for portfolios of students intending to apply to a post-secondary program where a portfolio of artwork is necessary.

Cheerleading

Abbey Park's cheerleading team competes in the large Senior Advanced All-Girl division, which is the highest possible division for high school teams. The team won the titles of Regional, Provincial and National Champions in 2010. In 2011, the team has placed first at Regionals, Provincials and Nationals. They also won the award for "Top Team Tumbling" at both the 2010 and 2011 Nationals. The team also won Provincial and National Champions in 2012, making this their third year in a row undefeated.

Girls rugby

Abbey Park started a Varsity Girls Rugby team in the 2009 season. A stunningly impressive first season led the girls to victories in tournaments and against rivals Blakelock High School and Loyola Catholic School. Many players continued on to lead the team to an impressive second year, reaching the Halton Finals. Many girls have since gone onto play for universities across Canada as well as Rugby Canada Junior teams. In 2012, the Abbey Park Varsity Girls Rugby team were the tier 2 Halton Champions.

Basketball

Boys and Girls Eagles Basketball teams compete in the Halton Secondary School Athletic Association (HSSAA). The Midget Boys basketball team won the Halton Region Championship in the school's first season in 2005.

Boys Rugby

Started in 2005 by Coach and local rugby notable, Tyler Leggatt. Tyler Leggatt rose to prominence as a player with the Oakville Crusaders in the early 2000s. He earned notoriety with the highly reputable club as one of only two players to win every prized player recognition the club annually presents to their players. These include: Most Improved, Most Valuable, Club Player of the Year, and Captain's Award.

His experience and success on the field have translated to success on the sidelines as coach and Director of Rugby for Abbey Park.

Since their start in 2005, in just a few short years the program would field three teams: bantam, junior and senior sides. Abbey Park's first senior captain was Chris Hyde (2007). The first grade 11 to captain the senior squad was Matthew Jones.

Since the program's inception in 2005, Abbey Park has competed in every Halton Tier One Senior boys final except one (2013).

Abbey Park run three age grades all of which compete in Tier One: bantam (gr. 9); junior (gr. 10); and senior boys (gr. 11 and 12). The Senior Boys rugby team has won the GHAC Regional title twice (2010 and 2011), and were Halton Champions in 2011. Abbey Park's senior boys also competed at OFSAA in 2011 where they finished 4th after being defeated by Oakville Trafalgar in the 3rd place match, played in Oakville at Crusader park. Abbey Park notably eliminated Streetsville, ranked 2nd and favorites for the title.

Many young Eagles have gone on to represent Ontario at the National Festival each summer, and four former players have gone on to play for Canada at the junior age grade, three of which have their national team jerseys mounted in the main foyer; these are: Djustice Sears-Duru, Chris Woodhead, and Saweyr Herron. Currently, Aidan Foley has been identified (2015) by the Canada U17 program and competed provincially with Rugby Ontario.

Varsity Lacrosse

Abbey Park started a Varsity Boys Lacrosse team in the 2012 season. In the OFSAA qualifiers Abbey Park had a record of 1–2 defeating the defending champions Notre Dame but losing to Corpus Christi and school rival Loyola ended Abbey Parks chances to qualify for OFSAA. Abbey Park had a record of 3-8 for the season.

Councils

Abbey Park has several student-body councils for different areas of interest. The Arts Council plans art-related events, the Student Government plans events such as Coffee House and Pasta Night, the Environmental Council is committed to improving the quality of the environment in and around the school and the Social Council tackles and raises awareness of worldwide social problems. Abbey Park's Executive Council is a meta-council consisting of leaders from all councils & clubs. The Executive Council meets semi-annually. The Ontario Organization of Secondary Students (OOSS) began at Abbey Park and has extended to various schools in the Halton and Peel region.

Tutoring Club

Abbey Park's Tutoring Club, founded in 2011, provides tutoring and mentorship services to students from Abbey Park and the surrounding community. The leadership roles are split according to various subjects; there are directors of math, sciences and languages who coordinate individual workshops ahead of tests and exams.

Eagle Ink

The Eagle Ink (previously named Quill) is Abbey Park's school magazine. Any student can join as a writer, editor, photographer or layout designer. The magazine is published semi-annually at the end of each semester.

Young Women In Leadership

Young Women in Leadership is a group for young women in the school that discusses the aspects of feminism, and holds contests to promote awareness.

DECA

The business department at Abbey Park runs a DECA chapter for the school. Abbey Park competes at DECA Ontario's Hamilton Regional Competition in November, and a large percentage of competitors move on to the provincial competition in February in Toronto.

Debate Club

Abbey Park's debate club seeks to improve students' public speaking skills and ability to logically organize ideas. The club follows the Canadian Parliamentary style for all formal debates. Abbey Park's debate club is regionally successful winning many interscholastic debates.

Math Society

Abbey Park Math Society is composed of ambitious students who aspire to do better in numerous mathematical contests offered throughout the year. Math Society meets every week to refresh the members of common mathematical concepts that appear in the contests and how to attack those problems in a more time-efficient manner. Anyone is welcome to join, anytime, regardless of mathematical skills.

Notable alumni