About Us

History

The original one-room schoolhouse, known as Union S.S. #1, Markham and Vaughan, was built in 1847 for $875.  A fire destroyed these premises in 1922 as a new facility was being completed on the present site.  A picture of the original schoolhouse and a wooden name plate with the inscription "District School 1847" survived the fire and is still on display in the school.

As the student population grew, three separate additions were built.  The most recent, completed in 1993, updated the 1953 facility, restoring much of the original charm.

Thornhill Public School Today.

The school crest proudly incorporates the Lamp of Learning, our Mascot the eagle and our Motto, Caring, Learning and Growing.  A community quilt, designed by each family in the 1993/4 school year, proudly hangs in the school library.

Facilities

The original one-roomed school house of 1847, located at the corner of Jane and Elizabeth, burned down in May 1922.  The new Thornhill P.S. was replaced by a two-storey building which officially opened in 1922.

Additions were placed on the original school in 1952/67/93.

Mission, Vision & Values

Mission

We provide flexible learning opportunities that are supported by information communications technology and reflect the diverse needs of students as future citizens in a changing global society.

Vision

• To focus on literacy to ensure our students have the skills, knowledge and attitudes they need to compete and succeed in the knowledge-based society and thereby prepare our young people for future employability.
• To support YRDSB’s vision for a technology-infused, learner-active classroom.
• To provide :
  • programming that supports, extends and enhances instruction within a traditional school.
  • programs that allow students to develop the ability to understand, think, apply and communicate effectively using information and communication technologies.
  • every YRDSB teacher and their students with access to quality web-based curricular learning resources that may be used to extend, enhance and enrich the learning opportunities for students.
  • equal access for all students to courses needed for graduation.
  • access to courses that may not be available for students at their local schools.
  • opportunities for students, who require alternatives to a traditional brick-and-mortar environment, to find success in online education.
  • students and their teachers with increased access to the highest quality educational opportunities.
  • teachers with quality online curriculum activities that will enhance quality learning activities for the traditional program.
• To partner with local schools to supplement the curriculum by expanding the options available to all students, whether they are students who do not have specific courses and/or modules available at their schools, or students whose learning styles are more compatible with an online offering.
• To provide a rigorous curriculum that supports continuous progress for every student.
• To address the need for flexible curriculum delivery options and contact with students in more isolated areas.
• To provide opportunities for students who are currently on home instruction due to medical and/or social/psychological problems.
• To provide opportunities for students to learn ‘whenever and wherever', and according to their own ‘timetable’ … e.g. high-performance athletes, part-time jobs, diploma completion, etc.
• To provide support for students at risk through supportive and remedial strategies and involvement with special partnerships and programs.

Values

• We embrace the spirit of innovation that acts to realize opportunities to transform our vision into reality.
• We endeavour to use evolving technology to implement curricula and develop our students’ self-directed, self-motivated and self-assessing skills.
• We believe educators must all be skillful users of the tools related to information technology to enhance learning and empower our students.​
• We believe Information Technology holds the promise of enabling unlimited access to information irrespective of a person's social situation.
• We understand that each learner, as participants in an active learning community, must have opportunities to explore and grow with technology.
• We recognize that teachers are the most important individuals in our society- nothing is as powerful as the human touch in education.
• We strive for students to be engaged in learning that is relevant to the world in which they live.
• We believe integrating technology into the curriculum creates a learning environment that extends beyond the walls of the school to include local and global communities.
• We believe students, regardless of their background, need to be aware of the changing skill sets (manage information, think and solve problems using appropriate technology) that will be important to future employment.

Frequently Asked Questions