High Skills Majors

The purpose of Specialist High Skills Majors is to engage students in a planned, post-secondary destination that suits their individual needs. Direct entry to the workforce or an apprenticeship has been and will continue to be the most common destination, but many will go on to college or university in a related field. The program is based on recent and continuous input received from the local community and the manufacturing sector, in particular. Schools are able to create a Specialist High Skills Major and students will be able to graduate with this distinction attached to their diploma.

During the next school year, the Avon Maitland District School Board will feature eight High Skills Majors across four of its secondary schools. The schools offering High Skills Majors are:

  • Stratford Northwestern Secondary School - Manufacturing and Hospitality & Tourism
  • Stratford Central Secondary School - Arts and Culture
  • Listowel District Secondary School - Construction Technology
  • F.E. Madill Secondary School - Construction Technology
  • South Huron District High School - Arts and Culture and Transportation
  • Goderich District Collegiate Institute - Environment

For the latest High Skills Majors offerings in our schools, be sure to visit this section of the Success for Life website.

Stratford Northwestern Secondary School

Manufacturing

Stratford Northwestern Secondary School is a unique program that prepares our students for either employment or post-secondary training at an advanced level. We focus on designing, planning, costing, manufacturing and marketing real-life, hands-on projects. Our strength is that the local manufacturing industry works closely with our school so that the work we do in house is of industry starndard. The students are actively engaged in learning a variety of skills such as: Autocad, Mastercam; all disciplines of welding; and precision machining using CNC and manual equipment.

Hospitality & Tourism

Students in the culinary SHSM operate the school's trendy cafe called the "Screaming Avocado" where they plan, prepare, market and serve a wide variety of meals following the "slow food". Through connections with local farmers, our own gardens and greenhouse, the students gain invaluable seed-to-table education. Travel is a large part of tour program and students also work on catering events that develop their serving and food preparation skills.

Stratford Central Secondary School

Arts and Culture

The ArtsCentral program has a distinguished history of arts education. With the largest offerings of arts courses in the area, students can specialize in dance, drama, instrumental music, vocal music, visual art and technical production. ArtsCentral creates an inspiring environment for artists across all disciplines, while promoting the creation, production, performance, understanding and appreciation of arts endeavours. Strong partnerships and placements allow students hands-on knowledge, understanding and skills through performances and technical support at school and community events.

Listowel District Secondary School

Construction Technology

The program at Listowel District Secondary School focuses on skills related to cabinetmaking and construction including electrical systems, roofing, concrete, design and estimating. Students learn trade knowledge and demonstrate good work habits while using tools and materials in a safe manner by completing projects both on the job site and in the classroom.

F.E. Madill Secondary School

Construction Technology

In Wingham, F.E. Madill's off-site construction program is a full day experience that combines knowledge learned in the classroom with hands on construction projects in the community. This four credit package (three credits in construction technology and one in math) focuses on advanced construction systems, related to commercial, industrial, and/or residential applications. They will also study industry standards; building codes; consider health and safety issues; and explore careers, lifelong learning opportunities, and the impact of construction technology on society.

South Huron District High School

Arts and Culture

The Arts Department at SHDHS offers a broad range of courses, designed to give students access to specialized skill sets in preparation for Arts-based fields and post-secondary institutions upon graduation. Our school's Art department offers courses in Drama, Visual Art and Music, where each discipline participates in many school and community events. The addition of Digital Audio Studies, a program designed to offer experience working with professional technical applications in a recording studio environment, gives students an experience they couldn't receive at any other school.

Transportation

Apprenticeship, Workplace and College are the current pathways that the current Transportation program at South Huron address. The current facility has a designated workshop with 7 bays which includes two inground hoists. We are well supported by local dealerships who hire graduates from our programs as apprentices and take on COOP and OYAP students. Toyota, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors have all donated vehicles in the past through local dealerships.

Goderich District Collegiate Institute

Environment

Currently our program strongly supports our four pathways and we are seeking to expand our program. Energy is an emerging employment sector in our area and our intention is to involve our school by producing suitable candidates to be employed within the community. We would also like to involve ourselves with a second initiative Lake Huron and its shore has become an environmental concern and we intend to involve our school community in the management of the shorline. If approved, we would like to expand our program to focus on environmental studies and alternative energy solutions.