Founded 1958 Enrollment 550 (2013) Colour(s) Blue and White Phone +1 613-746-8196 | Principal Steve Spidell Campus urban Team name Rams Mascot Ram | |
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Address 815 St Laurent Blvd, Ottawa, ON K1K 3A7, Canada District Ottawa-Carleton District School Board School board Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Similar Ridgemont High School, Brookfield High School, Gloucester High School, Canterbury High School, Hillcrest High School | ||
Rideau High School [Website] is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board high school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada . It is located at 815 St. Laurent Boulevard in the east end of the city on the edge of Vanier. It is located next to the Queen Elizabeth Elementary School.
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Rideau high school restoration of 696 street car
History
The school opened in 1958 under Principal E. D. Hendry. It was the second of a series of ten high schools built by the local school board to cope with rapidly rising attendance and the baby boom. The project generated some controversy as the Collegiate Board presented a plan that included an auditorium, double gym, and a cafeteria. The Ottawa Property Owners association objected to these as expensive and unneeded luxuries, and the mayor Charlotte Whitton agreed. The dispute delayed the construction of the school for some time.
In 1971-72, Rideau High School concert and stage bands produced an album.
In an October 6, 2009 report by the OCDSB, closure of the school was recommended, with its current students to be redirected to Gloucester High School. and incoming students to be re-directed to Lisgar Collegiate Institute (English) or Glebe Collegiate Institute (French Immersion). However, due to a vote in December 7, 2009 (wherein the OCDSB board members voted to reject the recommendation), the school remained open.
Rideau was designed to hold 800 students. The enrolment fell to about 550 students by 2013, with the rest of the building populated by the children of two day-care programs and an adult English program.
Architecture
Rideau was built at the same time as Laurentian High School and Ridgemont High School and has the same base design by architects Hazelgrove, Lithwick and Lambert with well-lit efficient circulation, and a large auditoria. The double gymnasium block projected into a large sports field and oval track. For adults, commercial and business classes were offered in the evenings. There are tennis courts, a large parking lot, well equipped science labs, technical shops and a library. There are two storey t-shaped wings for classrooms, with the gym, auditorium and cafeteria in bumped out blocks. The building was constructed of orange-buff brick with contrasting brick in perpendicular bars on the fly over the auditorium stage. At Rideau the auditorium stage fly was decorated at the corners in contrasting brick. There were horizontal bands of windows in silver aluminum, which were later retrofitted with tinted glass in brown anodyzed frames. An entrance forecourt is reached by a circular drive. The main door is through a vestibule set at an angle between a classroom wing and the cafeteria block. The school's most architecturally interesting feature is a smokestack with a heavy fire door at the base for cleaning out the ash and soot.
The school was renovated in the early 1990s at the cost of several million dollars.
Programs
Rideau is a mixed stream school offering Academic(advanced), Applied(general) and Essential level courses. The school also has a significant English as a Second Language program, with 63.2% of the student population enrolled. Its specialization in ESL programs makes it one of the most multicultural schools in the city. Rideau also has programs for special needs students (with a population of 21.3% of students enrolled) and strong technological programming.