New Westminster Secondary School

Prior to the 1860s the site of the present school was a public cemetery where many of the prominent citizens of New Westminster were interred. Many of the citizens who were buried in this public cemetery were part of the Chinese community and as well as Sikhs and Indigenous.[5] After development in the 1870s the remains of those buried were transferred to the Fraser Cemetery, located elsewhere in the city. During the Second World War the corner of 10th Avenue and 8th, where the present school is located, was leased to the Federal Government. The site served as a soldiers' barracks, used for training and housing the Royal Westminster Regiment. After World War II, the barracks were moved to the University of British Columbia and the rest of the cemetery was demolished. Finally, in 1948 The public works yard was moved and the site was transferred to the New Westminster School Board for the construction of offices and a new high school.

In September 1949 Vincent Massey Junior High was unofficially opened by Premier Bryan I. Johnson. On December 16, 1949, the school was officially opened. The school was named after the Right Honourable Vincent Massey, the eighteenth Governor General of Canada. The adjoining Pearson wing, named after the Right Honourable Lester Pearson, former Canadian Prime Minister, was home to the Senior High School prior to the two becoming amalgamated into the present New Westminster Secondary School.

The NWSS International Baccalaureate (IB) program is a pre-university course of studies, offered at NWSS since 2000.[6] The school offers the Diploma Program (DP), the Certificate Program (CP), and an unofficial Pre-IB Programme. All of the programs require an exam entry, although exam entry into the Diploma and Certificate programs is not required if moving on from the Pre-IB Program. At NWSS, the Pre-IB Program prepares students for the rigors of the global IB Program by increasing the difficulty and workloads of the students. The Pre-IB Programme contains a course called RIM, or Research in Motion. This course is meant to give students a basis in discussion of ethics and technology useful in the diploma programme. It includes a research paper known as the Long Term Project (LTP), imitable of the 3000 word Extended Essay completed by Diploma candidates.

The school has an ESL program for students whose second language is English. This program is offered to many International Students. A French Immersion program includes classes purely taught in French. This is the continuation of the Glenbrook Middle School late French immersion program. In this program, students are expected to speak French in most classes and upon finishing it, have almost native fluency.

The New Westminster School District announced plans for the replacement of the New Westminster Secondary School (NWSS). NWSS will continue to be the biggest school in the Province of British Columbia with this largest and most complex construction project in the history of the province.

Minister of Education Mike Bernier came to New Westminster on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, to announce the long-awaited funding approval for the New Westminster Secondary School replacement project. The $106.5 million replacement of New Westminster Secondary School was completed near the end of the summer of 2020. This $106.5 million budget for the new school is the largest budget in BC history to be allocated to a school.[7] The new school is now home for over 2100 grade 9 to 12 students. The new school has been designed to meet today's standards for safety, accessibility and modern learning.[8]

• Josh Byrne[9] – Professional lacrosse player (Buffalo Bandits; Chaos LC)
• Todd Ewen – Professional National Hockey League player (1985–2000).
• Peter Julian[10] – Canadian Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party
• Justin Morneau[11] – Major League Baseball player of the Minnesota Twins, and MVP winner.
• Bill Ranford[12] – Professional National Hockey League player and four time Stanley Cup (active player and twice as Goaltending coach) and Conn Smythe Trophy winner (1990 Stanley Cup Finals).
• Eva Markvoort – Miss New Westminster 2002

• New Westminster Secondary School was the main filming location for the five-season television series 21 Jump Street[13]
• New Westminster Secondary School is the main filming location for the videos used in the Premier Go Program[14]
• New Westminster Secondary School was the main filming location in 2015 for the short film That's So Straight[15]

• New Westminster Secondary School Website