Lorne Park Secondary School

When the population of Peel County began growing rapidly in the 1950s, the secretary-treasurer for the South Peel Board of Education began negotiations to purchase land for a new school to be built on a 13½ acre site at the price of $32,469. Construction on the school began in 1957, and the total cost of the school (including the land) was $752,569.

Billed as a very modern design when the school opened for students in January 1958, the main feature of the school, facing south onto Lorne Park Road, was a suspended concrete canopy with two-story windows. The school opened with 272 students and 16 teachers.

The school went through a series of upgrades in the first 20 years of its existence. In 1962, a cafeteria was built on the South-East of the building. In 1964, the school underwent a major construction project in which a second, larger gymnasium, weight rooms, technology shops and classrooms as well as a completely new section to the north which housed 2 floors of classrooms were constructed. The 1964 upgrades raised the student capacity from 300 to 1800. In 1972, a library and lecture hall was erected to East side of the main building.

While not in use presently, a firing range exists in the basement of the school (beneath the small gymnasium). It was built in order to secure extra funding during the Cold War period and so that students could have a suitable area to practice in. When such a use became obscure, the firing range housed the drama department's props and costumes. It was listed as permanently closed and removed from official architectural plans in the 2000s, though it is still used to store theatrical props.^{[citation needed]}

In 1973, Lorne Park was the first school in the Peel Board of Education to offer full-credit semestering.^[3] The success of the experiment led to the extension of semestering to most schools in Peel by 1976.

The school population peaked in 1979, when Lorne Park had a teaching staff of 92 and 1,647 students.

The current student population stands at 779 students.^[1] Lorne Park hosts an Extended French program. Its feeder schools are Hillcrest Middle School, Tecumseh Public School, Green Glade Senior Public School (Extended French only), St. Christopher Catholic School, Allan A. Martin Senior Public School and St. Luke Catholic School.

As of 2016, Lorne Park was expending around $800,000 in annual operational costs including roughly $150,000 in utilities alone. In the 2015–16 school year, the school spent $786 per student per year in facility costs.^[4]

Lorne Park has a variety of athletic programs, including football, cross-country, rugby, ice hockey and women's lacrosse teams.^[5] They have produced several OFSAA and ROPSSAA champions in women's lacrosse, cross-country, track and field, boys' and girls' hockey, field hockey, basketball, skiing, badminton, football, baseball, swimming, rugby and tennis. The junior cross-country ski team were 2007 OFSAA champions. The girl's varsity flag football team were the 2024/2025 ROPSSAA champions.

Due to these successes, Lorne Park has been designated as having a Specialist High Skills Major in "Sports" by the Peel district school board.

Academia

• Nima Arkani-Hamed, physicist and professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Cornell University, and Harvard University.^[8]
• Nanda Lwin, author and music historian, professor at Seneca College^[9]

Arts

• Ty Templeton, Comic-book artist and writer^[8]
• Mark Irwin, Hollywood Cinematographer^[8]
• Suzie McNeil, Vocalist^[8]
• Matthew Barber, singer and songwriter.^[10]
• Jacqueline Byers, actress^{[citation needed]}

Government

• Bev Oda, former federal politician and cabinet minister^[8]
• Stephen Crawford, member of Ontario's Provincial Parliament, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement^[11][12]

Sports

• Todd Stansbury, athletic director for Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets sports program at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
• Klaus Wilmsmeyer, former NFL Football Player and Super Bowl Champion, San Francisco 49ers^[13]
• Brent Urban, NFL Football Player, Chicago Bears^[14]
• Robert Marland, Olympic gold medal winning rower ^[15]
• Silken Laumann, Olympic medal winning rower ^[8]
• Dylan Strome, NHL Hockey Player, Chicago Blackhawks 3rd overall draft pick 2015 NHL entry draft^[8]
• Ryan Strome, NHL Hockey Player, New York Islanders 5th overall draft pick 2011 NHL entry draft^[8]
• Michael McLeod, NHL Hockey Player, New Jersey Devils first round draft pick 2016 NHL entry draft^[16]
• Nick Paul, NHL Hockey Player, Ottawa Senators fourth round draft pick 2013 NHL entry draft^[16]
• Ryan McLeod, Hockey Player, Edmonton Oilers second round draft pick 2018 NHL entry draft^[16]
• Mike Hough, former NHL Hockey Player, Captain of Quebec Nordiques^[8]
• Ryan O'Marra, former NHL Hockey Player, New York Islanders first round draft pick 2005 NHL entry draft^[8]
• Nathan LaFayette, former NHL Hockey Player^[8]
• Steve Pinizzotto, former NHL Hockey Player^[8]
• Matt Kudu, former CFL Football Player^[17]
• Olivia Anderson, swimmer, represented Canada in 2017 World Aquatics Championships^[18]
• Jack Cassar, CFL Football Player ^[19]

Technology

• Brad Templeton, ClariNet founder, Usenet pioneer, technology writer, public speaker and entrepreneur^[20]

• Education in Ontario
• List of secondary schools in Ontario