D. W. Poppy Secondary School

D. W. Poppy Secondary is a public high school in the Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada, and is part of School District 35 Langley.[1] It serves much of rural Langley Township, including western portions of Aldergrove.[2]

D.W. Poppy Secondary
Address
23752 52 Ave

, ,
Canada
Coordinates49.09604°N 122.56595°W / 49.09604; -122.56595
Information
School typePublic, high school
Motto"We don't just go to school, we go to Poppy."
Establishedc.1973
School boardSchool District 35 Langley
School number3535034
PrincipalDiane Smillie
Staff57
Grades8-12
Enrollment~984 (2019)
LanguageEnglish
Hours in school day6.25
Campus size5.86ha
Area0.86ha
Colour(s)Red, White, Blue
MascotRed Hawk
Team nameD. W. Poppy Redhawks
Websitedwps.sd35.bc.ca
Last updated: 2023

History

The school opened in 1973 as D. W. Poppy Junior Secondary (grades 8 to 10), with the students remaining on shift at Langley Secondary for the first year. David Watkins was the first principal, holding that position for four years. The first vice principal was Wally Eggert. There were approximately 600 students enrolled with the grade 10 students feeding into Langley Secondary or Aldergrove Secondary for their senior years. In 1975 Graham Leask became vice principal, and in 1977 he became principal with Kiyo Hamade as vice principal.

In the first years of the school, the administration experimented with the quarter system, but presently the school is on the semester system of classes.

D. W. Poppy Secondary is situated on just over thirteen acres of land in a still-rural area of Langley. It is built of pre-cast concrete with aluminium windows. It is served by a drilled well (230 feet deep) and a septic tank system for sewage. It has five tennis courts, a floor hockey court, a basketball court, a rock dust jogging track, and three playing fields.

In 1980 the school added a grade 11 class, and in 1982 the first graduating class, with 115 members, finished grade 12. With the change from a junior to a senior school came a doubling in the size of the structure, with the addition of senior science laboratories and other classrooms. By 1983 the school had 930 students.[3]

D.W. Poppy was one of a trio of Langley schools built from the same, or similar plans - designed to accommodate expansion. The others were R.E. Mountain Secondary School and Brookswood Secondary. After extensive renovations at all three schools, they are hardly recognizable as having evolved from the same plan. Brookswood (currently the largest of the three) and Poppy have both completed their courtyard enclosure, while Mountain remains closest to its original form.

Notable alumni

References

  1. "D W Poppy Secondary". The Fraser Institute. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  2. "September 2013 Secondary School Catchment Areas" (PDF). School District # 35 - Langley. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  3. "D.W. Poppy Secondary School | "We do not remember days, we remember moments." – Cesare Pavese | George Main".


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