Upper Canada College - Student Body

Student Body

UCC is a non-denominational school with approximately 1,000 day students and 110 boarders; Senior Kindergarten to Grade Seven students, approximately 400 boys, attend the Preparatory School (the Prep), after which a boy may move on to the Upper School, which consists of Grades Eight to Twelve. The Upper School years are known as follows:

• Grade Eight: Year One
• Grade Nine: Year Two
• Grade Ten: Foundation Year
• Grade Eleven: IB1
• Grade Twelve: IB2/Leaving Class

While Prep students are divided into forms, UCC, like several other schools in the Commonwealth of Nations, divides its Upper School students into houses. The house system was first adopted in 1923, consisting of only four houses until the late 1930s, after which the number increased the present ten. Eight of these— Bremner's, Howard's, Jackson's, Martland's, McHugh's, Mowbray's, Orr's, and Scadding's— are for day students and the remaining two— Seaton's and Wedd's— are for boarders. Though the administration planned to phase out boarding in favour of increased socio-economic diversity, widespread protest from the college's Old Boys led to the abandonment of such plans and the administration re-committed to revitalizing the boarding program. The houses compete in an annual intramural competition for the Prefects' Cup and the boarders also take part in weekend events and trips with boarders from neighbouring girls' schools.

The school's student government, created in 1892 and known as the Board of Stewards, represents the students at events, such as Association Day and Hockey Night, and relays their wishes, during times of change or concern, to the upper administration. The group comprises 17 elected members of the Leaving Class: one steward for each house (the heads of houses) plus seven— the Head Steward and six stewards with portfolio— chosen by the majority of the whole student body. In addition to the stewards, students can enter the prefects program, requiring them to show leadership through their senior years in order to be awarded the title of Prefect upon graduation, the highest recognition UCC offers "for citizenship and leadership."

Though Upper Canada College has accepted ethnic minorities since the first black student enrolled in 1831, their representation within the student body was initially disproportionate to the same within the city's population. Michael Ignatieff considered the school's ethnic makeup during his time there, between 1959 and 1965, reflective of the culture of Toronto in general; according to him, "basically Tory, Anglican and fantastically patrician." Peter C. Newman, who attended UCC a decade before Ignatieff, and himself Jewish, said anti-semitism was "virtually non-existent." According to school historian Richard Howard, UCC transformed its culture during the 1970s, as it began to offer assistance to the less affluent and made attempts to attract boys from visible minorities, becoming what he called "a small United Nations" that echoed Toronto's emerging ethnic variety (today, students from over 20 different countries and regions attend UCC), though, as recently as 1990, there were references in College Times editorials to anti-semitism and sexism. These aspects of College life came to light in 1994, through James T. Fitzgerald's book Old Boys, which published some alumni's recollections of the school. The college took the criticisms seriously, hiring one of its critics to help open UCC to the broader community.