Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts

Infobox Education in Canada
name = Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts
established = 1911


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schoolboard = Edmonton Public Schools
schooltype = PublicK-12 Arts and IB
affiliation =
streetaddress = 10210-108 Avenue NW
city = Edmonton
province = Alberta
country = Canada
grades = K–12
principal = John Beaton
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enrollment =
staff =
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website = [http://www.victoria-school.ca// www.victoria-school.ca/]

Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts is a public school in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada operated by Edmonton Public Schools, offering students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 an arts-focused education.

It was formerly known as Victoria Composite High School or "Vic Comp" for short. In 1985, Bob Maskell took over the position of school principal with the intention of transforming the school from a vocational school with a low enrollment and bad reputation to an arts-based alternative school. He sold off the vocational equipment to finance large-scale renovations, and recruited a staff qualified in a broad range of arts disciplines. The renamed Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts has become one of the top arts-focused schools in North America.

The school is an International Baccalaureate school, and offers the IB program for grades K-12: one of the only schools in Canada to do so.There are five programmes students may pursue at Victoria; Design and New Media, Visual Arts, Theatre, Dance, and Music.

In addition to its academic and arts programmes, Victoria School is known for its cheer teams. The 1994 Large Squad team won the Suzutan World Cheerleading Championships in Nagoya, Japan.

The high school library was destroyed by a deliberately set fire in April 2007.

Notable alumni

* Leslie Nielsen - actor
* Robert Goulet - entertainer
* Arthur Hiller - Director, Past President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
* Eric Johnson - Actor, star of the 2007 television series Flash Gordon
* Joe Shoctor - Lawyer, founder of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre, and recipient of the Alberta Order of Excellence
* Wop May - Canadian airman
* Tommy Chong - actor and musician
* Michael J Fox - actor

External links

* [http://www.victoria-school.ca/ Official Site of Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts]
* [http://www.epsb.ca/ The official site of Edmonton Public Schools]
* [http://www.connect2edmonton.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34766/ Blaze cripples Victoria School]
* [http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Quick+Links/Publications/ATA+News/Volume+30/Number+8/In+the+News/Alternative+charter+and+public+schools.htm Like a Phoenix rising: Arts revitalize school]