As parents who live in Ottawa West, we were concerned when our daughter came to us in Grade 8 and said she wanted to go to the Arts Program at Canterbury High School, a city-wide program located in Ottawa South.
We thought the school was too far away and might not be strong academically. We were wrong on both counts.
As students from all over the region have shown us, the only distance limitation is the student's desire to be in the program. It would be lovely to have our daughter going to school nearer home. However, we recognize that as our clientele is Regional and Canterbury is considered to have the best Arts facilities in the province, it is a logical choice for the Program. (Statistically, the West has the same percentage of students enrolled at Canterbury as other areas of the city.)
We now have students from all over the Ottawa-Carleton area as well as Prescott, Greely, Oxford Station, Portland, etc. Although a few board in the city, most make the trip to and from school daily, some as much as 75km. Each way!
Entrance to the program is by audition, with approximately 25 students accepted each year in the areas of vocal music, instrumental music, dance, drama and visual arts. Students do not necessarily need previous training as the staff are adept at recognizing potential.
West End student, Kirk Hansen of Denbury Avenue, is a perfect example of this. He auditioned for both vocal music and the dance program - he has a superb voice and had never danced a step but was taken into the dance program.
At the end of his first year at Canterbury he was accepted into the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Dance Company School. He graduated from there this year and has been accepted into their full time professional study program.
Students have had the same academic subjects that all OBE pupils take but they have no choice in their options, and must take three courses in the arts area in which they are accepted. (This gives them one more credit a year than a regular high school student.)
They have an additional incentive to study and work hard since they are not allowed to remain in the program if they do not keep up a reasonable academic average.
Because Canterbury is a community school and the Arts students make up only 50 per- cent of the student body, the school is able to offer a wide academic and composite course selection, as well as an extensive athletic program.
Students also benefit from having the Canterbury Community Center across the street, giving us full access to the swimming pool, tennis and ice rink.
The wide range of extracurricular activities, both arts and sports, which these students take part in makes for very involved young people.
The next area being developed at Canterbury is to tailor some of it's non-academic subjects to meld with the Arts Program. This was started last year with a Theatre Production Course combining lighting, set design and building, costume design, etc.
These types of courses allow students to take the compulsory credit in a technical area required of all Ontario high school students but remain in the Arts area if they wish. In the future the school is looking at Television Arts and various other related areas
The fact that our students have access to all the computer equipment in the OBE Computer Resource Center, which is located in the school, gives an added dimension to our facilities
Our students are committed and bright young people; very active and involved, and very busy. The program's aim is not to turn out performers, although there will be some, but rather, all round students who will be able to go on into any field they choose, with an enhanced ability in an area in which they have talent, and a life-long interest in the arts.
As parents we are delighted to see the commitment and the involvement of these students, and wish all high school students could find areas which allow them to grow and learn with such obvious pleasure.
(Auditions are held in February, but applications for auditions are accepted until school opens in September. Students are accepted into Grade 9 primarily but more senior students are admitted as well.)