About Us

Almaguin Highlands Secondary School is a new school with a long and interesting history, located in South River, Ontario.  The school was first opened in 1959 at a location in between Sundridge and South River;  144 students were enrolled in 1959 and were taught by 8 teachers.   The school was renovated and expanded in 1966-1967 and enrollment grew to 571 that year, and hit capacity a year later, in 1968 with 750 students.  The school was officially opened by the Honorourable William G Davis, Minister of Education, and received its official name of Almaguin Highlands Secondary School at that time.  The word Almaguin is a combination of letters from the words Algonquin and Magnetawan, and was created years earlier during a local contest to boost tourism.  Renovations continued and in 1969 and 1970, Powassan and Burks Falls students joined Almaguin Highlands Secondary School respectively; the school burgeoned to a population of 1397 students and 84 staff members in 1978.  Almaguin became one of the first schools to introduce the credit system.