Elizabeth Ballantyne School

Elizabeth Ballantyne School (commonly referred to as EBS) is a public Anglophone elementary school in Montreal, Canada. It is situated on Northview Street in Montreal West. It has public enrollment, and has a mix of local residents and children who are bused in from elsewhere in the city. Elizabeth Ballantyne is part of the English Montreal School Board.

History

The first school built in Montreal West was called Aberdeen School. It was built on the current site of Royal West Academy. As the school and town's population increased, the local school board saw a need for a new elementary school to be built. They decided to build it on the North side of the C.P.R. crossing (located at the corner of Sherbrooke Street West & Westminster) so that children would not have to go over it every day to get to school. Once Elizabeth Ballantyne was built, children from the South side of the tracks continued to go to Aberdeen School while those in the North began going to the newly built school.

The School Board bought a parcel of land on Northview Avenue in 1921 for forty-five cents per square foot. Construction was started on a new elementary school containing eight classrooms, and completed it in March 1922. The new school was named the Elizabeth Ballantyne School for Miss Elizabeth Gordon Watt Ballantyne, a teacher for thirty years, and a sister of then-Montreal West Mayor James Ballantyne.

Again looking to the future, the School Board purchased the land at the rear of the school in 1924. The left wing and a gymnasium, costing about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars were completed in 1927.

Elizabeth Ballantyne School Song

Raise your voices loud and
clear to our school
we always hold most dear.
Honour the colours blue and gold,
face the future brave and bold.
May we be honest may we be true,
and ever faithful in all that we do.
Let us always loyal be,
Elizabeth Ballantyne to thee.
Shield of truth we all hold high,
never shall we let it die.
Friendships may grow
throughout our days,
strengthen us in many ways.
Start each day
with hope and cheer,
may we be ever free from fear.
Truth and honour shall be thine.
O God bless Elizabeth Ballantyne!

External links

* [http://www.emsb.qc.ca/elizabethballantyne/ Official Elizabeth Ballantyne School Site]