About Us

Dress Code

PA Day Activities

At D'Arcy McGee Catholic School, we pride ourselves on the strong partnership that exists among the home, the school and the parish.

D'Arcy McGee Catholic School provides a learning environment where models of Gospel values and Catholic doctrines and traditions are an integral part of the daily life of the school. Religious instruction and family life programs provide students with an essential foundation in their faith development. Faith activities planned throughout the year include Sacrament of Reconciliation, liturgical celebrations (Christmas Novena Mass, Stations of the Cross), food and sock drives, and ShareLife campaigns.

The curriculum facilitator will be assisting with in-service in language arts and mathematics. Our staff attends regular workshops in all curriculum areas: the history in-service for transition years, the transition years outcome-based in-service, literacy and numeracy. Programs for exceptional students and English as a Second Language(ESL)/dialect students are included.

We hold Virtue of the Month assemblies to celebrate positive accomplishments in the Christian virtues. Enrichment activities are an integral part of classroom programming to provide students with the opportunity to work at advanced levels (i.e., W5H and chess club.)

Several programs assist the students in literacy: home visits (Junior Kindergarten level), paired reading, remedial instruction, peer reading, partners in action (librarian and classroom teachers), young authors' conference, and library reading club.

We presently offer several special education classes: Kindergarten Language Program, specific learning disabled, primary and junior language impaired, PAST program and gifted. Support programs are offered to those students who require specific assistance in speech and language and occupational therapy. Program accommodation and modification is done in the regular classroom and assistance/intervention takes place as required.

D'Arcy McGee offers vocal and instrumental programs to students during the regular school day. Students are also encouraged to participate in choir. Classes participate in the school Christmas concerts and Catholic Education Week themes.

Hands-on experiences with building materials and other mechanical devices provide our students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 with the opportunity to apply mathematical, scientific and technological principles to their day-to-day activities. Overall, our students are offered a well rounded, balanced program integrating science, mathematics and technology.

Our staff coordinates the learning process through team planning and team teaching. Divisionally, topics and themes are developed so that students are exposed to the required skills, content and the standards set out in the provincial curriculum. Our programs encompass a variety of teaching strategies which include large and small group instruction and individualized teaching.

A significant portion of our program is offered outside the school. Excursions are integrated into the academic curriculum. Several large culminating activities are planned during the year. These include science, mathematics and technological fairs, concerts, musicals or drama presentations. Individualized optional activities are planned outside of the regular school day on the basis of student interest and availability of staff and time. these include house leagues for all students, athletic tournaments such as: soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross-country, track and field, softball. Academic festivals are offered for W5H, music presentations, band and visual arts.

D'Arcy McGee Catholic School is named for Thomas D'Arcy McGee who was one of the Fathers of Confederation. Born in Carlingford, Ireland on April 13, 1825, he emigrated to America at the age of 17, and later came to Montreal where he founded a newspaper called “The New Era”. He then moved into politics and played a major role in bringing about the confederation of the provinces to form the new country of Canada. His life was brought to an untimely end in 1868 by an assassin's bullet. Our school proudly bears his name and honours his memory as a great Canadian.

D'Arcy McGee was constructed as an open concept school in September 1968. It was designated a senior school to accommodate two feeder schools - St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Bosco Catholic Schools - and to offer the type of facilities, programs and experiences suited to the needs of students at this age level. It is now a full elementary school, serving students in grades Junior Kindergarten through to grade 8.

In 1983, the school was redesigned and semi-permanent walls were installed to create single self-contained classrooms. The science lab, technological education, family studies and music facilities were built to be among the best in the system.

Since 1982, D'Arcy McGee has offered a middle French Immersion program (Grades 5-8) designed to teach French to non-Francophone children. Students study half their subjects in French and the other half in English.

Throughout its history, D'Arcy McGee Catholic School has provided quality Catholic education to the residents of the Vaughan-Oakwood community.