Balmoral Junior Secondary School was a public high school in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, part of School District 44 North Vancouver. Since the French immersion program left Balmoral Junior Secondary in 2003, that institution saw declining enrollment, to the point where the school closed in 2009. The property has since been repurposed to hold the grade 8 and 9 classes of Carson Graham Secondary while that school undergoes a facilities upgrade. The Balmoral building, redesignated as the Carson Graham Secondary Balmoral Campus, was phased out in 2012 following the completion of the work at Carson Graham. In 2013 it became Mountainside Secondary School, an alternative school for students between grades 9 and 12.
History
Balmoral Junior Secondary School opened in about 1959 to serve Grades 7, 8 and 9 students in the northwest area of the District of North Vancouver. It was intended as a feeder to Delbrook Senior Secondary a few blocks away. In 1969 Balmoral split the grade 10 class with Delbrook. In January 1977 the Delbrook building was destroyed by fire, necessitating Balmoral accommodating both schools' students and staff until the end of June. Following this, Balmoral became a feeder school to Carson Graham Secondary School. In 2009, Balmoral ceased to exist as a separate school and became the second campus to Carson Graham Secondary School. The Balmoral site closed in 2012 and in 2013 the school was replaced with Mountainside Secondary School, with an alternative education program.
From its opening, Balmoral was known for its superior rugby program. Under Coach Bob Payne in the 1960s the bantam and juvenile teams often went undefeated in a season, and were unscored upon in a few. The grade 8 and grade 9 rugby were perennial Vancouver and District champions. In 1969 the school fielded a grade 10 boys' team for the first time. The school has produced numerous Canada U-19 and U-21 players and, at last count, three full international senior players; Tony Scott, Ron Johnstone, and Kelly McCallum. In 1997 they became only the third junior high school in the 33-year history of the B.C. High School Wrestling Championships to finish fourth. In 2007 Balmoral beat Seycove in Boys Soccer for their league junior championship. They were the runners-up for the Vancouver and District title.
Closure
In the 2006–2007 school year the North Vancouver School District put Balmoral on a list of schools slated for closure due to declining enrollment. The school parent advisory committee started a campaign to find more funding and keep the school open. The PAC's presentations presented a strategy to keep the school open, called the International Baccalaureate Program, which was approved in 2007. In 2009, the school district twinned an immediate rebuild of Carson Graham School with the closure of Balmoral in 2012. At issue was either the construction of a seismically sound, single facility at the Carson Graham site for 1,100 students, or the maintenance of two sites, both with aging facilities and one with under 300 students.
Drama and musical theatre program
Balmoral's Drama Program rivalled many others on the North Shore, second only to Sentinel Secondary School. It was headed up by Ms. A Reale with the some assistance from Tim Cadney. The program put on around 5–7 different shows each year, including spring and fall festivals.
