Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute

KCVI's history starts with the Kingston Grammar school in 1792. In 1807, the school was renamed Midland District Grammar School.[2] From c. 1825–30, the future first prime minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald, attended the school.[3] In c. 1853 the school moved to a new location - now Sydenham Public School - and was renamed Kingston County Grammar School.[2] It was renamed Kingston High School in 1871, becoming Kingston Collegiate Institute (KCI) in 1872.[2] Girls were first admitted as students in January 1877, and the school has remained co-educational ever since. Fifteen years later, at the institution's centenary in 1892, the school moved to its present site on Frontenac Street.[2] Finally, with the addition of a technical and commercial teaching wing in 1931, the school was renamed Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI), the name it retains to this day.[2] The oldest remaining wing of the school is the 1915 wing, which now houses science laboratories. The original wing was destroyed by fire and has since been replaced. The school celebrated its bicentenary in 1992 and celebrated its 225 anniversary in 2017. The school is commonly recognized as the oldest public high school in Ontario and the second oldest in the country.

The school closure and move to former QECVI site was planned to happen at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, but was then moved to happen in the middle of the 2019-2020 school year[4]. The school closure was delayed again another until the end of the 2019-2020 school year in September 2019[1].

The team colours are blue and white. The team name for all sports is "Blues" and the mascot is a blue bear. The school competes in various sports including, but not limited to: rowing, cross-country, track and field, football, chess club, advanced chicken plucking, rugby, hockey, basketball, volleyball, soccer, mountain biking, curling, Ping-Pong, tennis, badminton, baseball, golf, swimming, and skiing, along with various other sports.

A new coat of arms was formally conferred on KCVI by Ray Hnatyshyn, then Governor General of Canada, in 1992. It celebrated KCVI's 200th anniversary.

The Latin motto, maxima debetur pueris reverentia, can be roughly translated to "Youth are entitled to the greatest respect". Another more literal translation would be "The greatest respect is owed to boys". The differences in translation are not an attempt to make the motto more politically correct. The Latin word "puer", refers to a boy (or child) under the age of 17 (juvenis would refer to older youth) and in the plural is used to refer to groups of children of both genders.

KCVI is one of 83 schools in Canada that runs the International Baccalaureate program. The IB diploma program is offered at KCVI during the last two years of secondary school. However, there is also the Pre-IB program to prepare the Gr. 9 and 10 students for the rigorous pace of the IB curriculum. Also, if students do not want to enroll in the complete IB diploma program, they may apply for IB certificates in the course of their choosing.

KCVI offers a SHSM in Arts in Culture and Communication Technologies.

KCVI has many different activities going on throughout the school year, such as: the Students' Association – student government, DECA – Student Marketing Club, the student-run Leadership Conference, the improv teams, Mathletes, Model UN, Respect Committee, Outdoors Club, Environment Club, South African Partnership and Youth in Action, Drama Club, Robotics Club and the Debating Club. There is also an Athletics Association in charge of many sport-related school events. Newly formed in the 2006/07 year is the Arts Council, a complement to the Athletic Association. The KCVI Yearbook Committee creates a pictorial account of each year in a yearbook called "The Times". As well, KCVI hosts CKVI (The Cave), a radio broadcasting focus program, which broadcasts at 91.9 FM in downtown Kingston.

Street Smart is a Community Education Centre of the Limestone District School Board where students can earn their high school diploma in a more relaxed environment. They provide on-site secondary education for students aged primarily 16–20 who require an alternative setting for earning high school credits. They are staffed with certified secondary school teachers.

The Limestone District School Board offers a number of courses that concentrate on a particular field of interest to give students training, academic experience, and work experience that will give them a foundation in that area of study [7]. There are a variety of programs that prepare students for different destinations post-graduation: university, college, apprenticeships, and direct entry into the workplace. The programs offered at KCVI specifically include guitar building and radio broadcast journalism.

• John A. Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada (attended Midland Grammar School, later KCVI, c. 1825)
• Robertson Davies, author
• Don Cherry, hockey commentator[8]
• Gordon Downie, musician and actor, lead singer with The Tragically Hip [9]
• David Usher, musician
• Peter Milliken, former Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada
• Paul D. N. Hebert, biologist, developed the DNA barcoding method of taxonomy[10]
• Simon Whitfield, Olympic triathlete (Gold Medalist) [11]
• Hugh Dillon, musician and actor [12]
• Helen Cooper, federal and municipal politician, Mayor of Kingston 1988–1993
• J. Adam Brown, actor
• Members of The Tragically Hip including Downie (see above)
• Robert Mundell, nobel laureate and "father of the Euro"
• Henry Westman Richardson, Canadian Senator
• Rob Gibson,[13] Olympic medalist[14]
• Rick Howland, actor and musician[15]

Students of KCVI participate in a Grade Points competition, in which different themes days (called "Spirit Days") are decided by the Students' Association and the grade with the most students participating in that theme are awarded grade points. The grade with the most grade points at the end of the year is awarded a prize. Prizes in the past include various KCVI memorabilia.

In 2011, The Limestone District School Board Program and Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) began investigating strategies for managing the board's annual budget. The committee focused on investigating the advantages and disadvantages of closing select Kingston high schools that were under-enrolled or over-budget. KCVI was reviewed as a problematic institution by the committee due to the school's crumbling infrastructure and high annual overhead. The discussion of closing KCVI caused a large disruption among its students, alumni and parents, and gained support from the community, resulting in the formation of the group "Save Kingston City Schools". Many Kingston residents have supported the group and its cause by posting promotional signs on their lawns and partaking in social media campaigns using Facebook. However, in December 2014, a court ruling dismissed an appeal against the closure. On March 24, 2014, 35 million dollars were allocated to the building of a new school,[16] which is planned to be constructed in 2017.

• List of high schools in Ontario

• Official website