Harry Ainlay High School




Harry Ainlay High School is a high school located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in the Royal Gardens neighbourhood, south of Whitemud Drive on 111 Street. The school is operated by the Edmonton Public School System, and has wide variety of educational opportunities for students, including: full French Immersion instruction, the International Baccalaureate Program, Career and Technology Studies, and Registered Apprenticeship programs. The school has an enrollment of 2,889 students, making it the largest high school by student population in Alberta as of 2019. Since opening in 1966, over 40,000 students have graduated from Harry Ainlay.
The school sports teams are the Titans. The school is named after former Edmonton mayor Harry Dean Ainlay.

Canadian Student Leadership Conference

From September 25–28, 2018, the school hosted the Canadian Student Leadership Conference 2018. Speakers such as Chris Hadfield, Michel Chikwanine, Keith Hawkins, and Phil Boyte attended.

Academics

French Immersion

Harry Ainlay is one of the high schools in the Edmonton Public School System that offers full French Immersion for all core courses.

International Baccalaureate Program

Harry Ainlay was the second school in Alberta to introduce the International Baccalaureate program and is one of eight schools in the Edmonton Public School System offering an International Baccalaureate diploma program. Having a diploma graduating class normally greater than fifty students, Ainlay has one of the largest IB classes in Alberta. However, this is often attributed to the large population base of the school, with about 450 students enrolled in the diploma program and 200 students enrolled in the certificate program each year.
Harry Ainlay currently offers IB courses in Biology, English Literature, History, Physics, and Visual Arts, Chemistry, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Mathematics, Mathematical Studies, Music, and Theatre Arts. There have been several students write A1 examinations in their native languages including: German, Arabic, and Japanese.

In the media

On July 6, 2016 at approximately 2 AM, two people were hospitalized for a shooting that occurred near Harry Ainlay and Confederation Leisure Centre. The school was locked down on October 5, 2016 after an online threat on a student's Instagram page titled "clown.yeg". On September 13, 2017, a 15-year-old student was charged with bringing an airsoft pistol to school after an anonymous tip. The student was confronted at approximately 9:20 AM.

Notable alumni