Ross Sheppard High School


Ross Sheppard High School or École Ross Sheppard is a high school located in a northwest neighbourhood of Coronation Park, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The school colours are Colombia blue and navy blue. It is represented by a Thunderbird, also known as a T-Bird. Outside the school is a totem pole with a T-Bird on top, representing the school mascot. The school serves the needs of over 2,000 students attending grades 10-12, including approximately 35 international students annually. Ross Sheppard School's philosophy is based on four pillars - Academics, Arts, Athletics and Service.

Academics

Ross Sheppard School offers the standard academic program as well as International Baccalaureate, Physical Education, Careers and Technology, Fine Arts, and practical arts. Languages offered other than English include Chinese Mandarin, Spanish and all levels in French.
Ross Sheppard offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in addition to the Alberta education curriculum. During this year continue in a partial I.B. program, or continue in the regular Alberta education program. Most students take the regular Alberta education program while few students take the full program. Students complete the I.B. program while fulfilling their Alberta diploma requirements. Ross Sheppard also offers French Immersion with the first class graduating in 2008 with a bilingual diploma.
Partnering with Edmonton Public Schools and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Ross Sheppard provides the "Foundations of Health Sciences" course. The course allows students to receive hands-on skills in the health care field and to look to a future career in acute and long-term care or other fields with strong communication and interpersonal skills. Allowing students to either choose to immediately pursue a career in health care, or to study further in related post-secondary programs. Students enrolled in level 2 of the Skills Centre programs are eligible for enrollment to NAIT through the .
According to Fraser Institute, Ross Sheppard is rated as one of the top 10 best high schools out of all 25 public high schools in Edmonton, Alberta, and ninety-ninth out of two hundred sixty-two high schools in Alberta.

Arts

Ross Sheppard offers a wide range of programs in the Arts.
School YearPerformances
18-19Side-by-Side: Our Stories, The Drowsy Chaperone
17-18The Good Woman Of Setzuan, In The Heights
16-17HEIST!, Identities
15-16The Wiz, The Visit
14-15Bye Bye Birdie, Who Has Seen The Wind
13-141984, Once Upon a Mattress
12-13Les Misérables, Copacabana
11-12Grease, Romeo and Juliet
10-11Rebel Without a Cause, Snow White the Pantomime
09-10

Athletics

Ross Sheppard offers a wide range of sports including swimming, volleyball, cross-country running, rowing, curling, rugby, water polo, cheer team, track and field, women's soccer academy, indoor soccer, elite athletes sports program, basketball, badminton, football, golf, golf academy and handball. It offers 17 sports and 40 teams, over 1,000 student athletes, multiple city and provincial championship teams, a full-time strength and condition coach and a full-time therapist. Ross Sheppard offers an extensive co-curricular program of athletics, the arts, recreational and academic interests. It also boasts some impressive facilities such as an Olympic-sized swimming pool, covered ice arena, football and track stadium, three major playing fields, tennis courts, Telus World of Science, and the Commonwealth bowling green and clubhouse facilities. Ross Sheppard offers a unique, Elite Athlete Program that provides flexible scheduling for student athletes competing at provincial, national and/or international levels. The school features a Hockey, Soccer and Golf Skills Academy. New for 2012-13 will be the Triathlon Academy.

Service

Service is interwoven into Shep's fabric. There are a number of student-led clubs in the school that center around helping local and international charities.
Three resource centres are located throughout the school and are easily accessible and offer students a great deal of support with their academic studies.
represented Canada in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, and competed in the hop, step and jump. Sheppard went on to become a teacher, principal and school administrator, and served as superintendent of the Edmonton Public School Board from 1940 to 1955. When he retired, the school board named its newest high school in his honour, constructed starting in 1956, and then added onto in 1958. Sheppard devised the composite high school system, becoming the first superintendent in Canada to implement the concept. During his 15 years as Superintendent of Schools, the number of permanent public schools increased from 30 to 63. Sheppard’s retirement in 1955 concluded 42 years of service to the Edmonton public school system. He died 12 years later, on September 4, 1967.

Notable alumni