Valley Heights Secondary School

Opened in 1971, Valley Heights sits on a property that spans 100 acres (400,000 m²) and includes fields, Carolinian forests, rivers and marshy areas. During the 2000–01 school year there were approximately 700 students. However, a Roman Catholic school based out of Simcoe opened in 2001, which offered students newer equipment and more course choices (even though it was the closest to Simcoe Composite School). This, with the elimination of grade thirteen in Ontario, resulted in a decrease in student population down to 500.

Mrs. Jody Hevesi runs the Hidden Valley Cafe, which has been a staple at Valley Heights Secondary school since its establishment in the year 2000. As a "healthy" school, energy drinks have been banned from the premises in September 2011 along with non-baked foods and breaded foods.[1] A similar ban was enforced at school in Hove, England; where Headteacher Malvina Sanders states that "consuming high-energy drinks can have a detrimental impact on the ability of young people to concentrate in class."[2]

A roof fire occurred on July 25, 2012 on top of the gymnasium as a result of a botched roofing job. It cost the school $25,000 in overall damages and the damaged areas were secured before the thunderstorms that occurred early the next morning. Repairs were officially completed on July 31; not affecting any classes or activities that started in September 2012.[3]

VHSS has beefed up their academics programs to entice possible transfer students.[4] Plans to close down Port Dover Composite School came into reality on the night of January 31, 2013.

This school is the only high school in the entire Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant region to receive top marks for stewardship of the environment, minimizing the waste of natural resources, and conserving energy for future generations of Valley Heights students. The idea was started in 2008 and was deemed successful in 2011.[5] Even though a sizeable number of students who attend Valley Heights are not Mennonites, the location of the school makes it ideal for Mennonites to attend as it is adjacent to the farmland that their parents work on.

Valley Heights Secondary School is partially powered by solar energy coming from solar panels installed in the immediate vicinity.[6]

As attendance continues to decline throughout the secular Grand Erie District School Board, one of the solutions would be to close down Simcoe Composite School and Waterford District High School while keeping Valley Heights Secondary and Delhi District Secondary School open. The students from the Simcoe high school and the Waterford high school would be consolidated into a giant secular high school spanning 15 acres or 650,000 square feet somewhere in Norfolk County. Both VHSS and DDSS have the government funding and student enrolment figures to remain open on an indefinite basis.[7][8] By 2017, every school in Norfolk County (excluding Holy Trinity Catholic High School) will have a grand total of 1000 empty classroom seats.[9]

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