All Saints Catholic High School, opened September 2002, is a secondary school in the Kanata district of Ottawa, Ontario. The school is located in the Kanata North area of Kanata Lakes and serves the communities of Kanata and West Carleton. The school motto is Dei Gratia, Latin for 'The Grace of God'. Although the names of many saints were suggested, "All Saints" emerged as the clear favourite name for the school. The school colours are silver, blue and burgundy. In 2005, All Saints students chose "Eddie the Yeti" as the school mascot.
History
The school opened on September 3, 2002. Monsignor Leonard Lunney presided at the official ceremony on behalf of Archbishop Marcel Gervais. The school was built on land which was previously owned by the Whalen family. A mature spruce tree to the west of the school near the soccer field had died off of infection, it was plagued in 1945. The high school was designed in 2002 by architect Edward Cuhaci. A similar design was used for Holy Trinity Catholic High School, however All Saints increased the number of classrooms on the second floor. All Saints has a chapel, two large gymnasiums, four computer labs, seven science labs, a graphics room, a library, two music rooms, a dance studio, a fitness room, a drama room and an electronics shop. The Home Gymnasium is called "The Summit." The school's first year of operation only saw classes from grade 7 up to and including grade 11 because they did not want to split up Grade 12 classes in their graduating year. In order to prevent over-crowding, the school capped the maximum number of students permitted to attend in the first year. All Saints High School's second year of operation saw classes ranging all the way to grade 12, with population limits beginning to max out. In 2002 All Saints High School adopted St. Elizabeth School in Ottawa as its sister school and has supported it by providing the elementary school with over 4,500 books for its literacy program. In June 2004, the school's first graduation ceremony took place. The class of 2004 built a rock cairn entitled "Cairn of Hope" at the front of the school, into which a time capsule was placed. In its fifth year of operation, All Saints High School installed multiple portables in order to increase the maximum number of students that can be educated at the school, which would later be replaced by the expansion. An expansion to the school to add 30 rooms was completed in September 2007.
Expansion
All Saints Catholic High School quickly became too crowded as more people moved into the developing area. The expansion was built primarily for students in Grade 7 and 8 so that they could have their "own part" of the school. However, some high school classes run in the expansion now, as well as some Grade 7 and 8's going into the old part.
Sports
All Saints has much success in sports such as baseball, curling, X-country, Soccer, and Track & Field. In 2011 the varsity boys baseball team won the city championship. In 2008, the senior boys basketball team participated in the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament, where they won the coveted Sportsmanship Award. The 7/8 girls soccer team has won the city championships two years in a row, once in 2008 and again in 2009. In 2016, the Senior Boys Basketball Team won the tier 1 city championship against AY Jackson. All Saints teacher Tom Kennedy is an inductee into the Stfx hall of fame for his contribution to the CIS winning 1999–2000 X-Men basketball team.
Arts
In 2009 All Saints adopted the Specialist High Skills Major in the Arts Program, complementing its existing SHSM in Business Program. The school has concert bands, vocal groups, jazz bands and small ensembles, which perform at music competitions such as Musicfest and the Kiwanis Music Festival. In the 2008–09 school year, All Saints received nominations and awards in the Cappies program for its two productions; The Foreigner and City of Angels. In 2008/2009 All Saints were second in the Ottawa Improv Regional Finals; qualifying them for the National Tournament, where they were 7th in Canada. In 2009/2010, All Saints won the Connor's Cup tournament, and second in the Regional Finals, qualifying them for the CIG Nationals where they were third, behind Guelph's GCVI and British Columbia's GP Vanier. In 2010–2011, after advancing through the Ottawa Regional Finals and Provincial Finals, the All Saints Improv Team were placed third in the 2011 Canadian Improv Games, behind Vancouver Lower Mainland's Burnaby Mountain and Montreal's John Rennie.
