Де Ла Саль колледжі: Тарихы мен дәстүрлері

De La Salle College "Oaklands" (also known as De La Salle College, Toronto, or simply Del by the school community) is an independent, co educational, Catholic college preparatory institution run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Toronto, Ontario. Founded by the Christian Brothers in 1851, it offers a rigorous liberal arts education from grades 5 through 12, consistent with its Lasallian traditions and values. De La Salle "Oaklands" has a distinguished history as a college preparatory institution in the Roman Catholic tradition as founded in 1679 in Reims, France, by Jean Baptiste de La Salle (also the patron saint of the college). From 1967 to 1994, the school was operated as a public separate secondary school as part of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (formerly the Metropolitan Separate School Board).

De La Salle College "Oaklands" was founded by, and continues to be administered by, the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. It is part of a global community of Lasallian educational institutions that are assisted by more than 73,000 lay colleagues and teach over 900,000 students in over 80 countries, varying from teaching in impoverished nations like Nigeria to post secondary institutions like La Salle University (Philadelphia), Bethlehem University and De La Salle University Manila. The central administration of the Brothers operates out of the Generalate in Rome and is made up of the Superior General and his councillors. From 1851 to the present day, the Brothers based in English Canada have provided assistance in creating 58 schools, ("Lasallian Educational Apostolates") primarily in Ontario, along with a few schools in Edmonton, Montreal, Saskatchewan and Cleveland, Ohio. The Brothers of the Christian Schools arrived in Montreal in 1837 and founded the first permanent community of LaSallian Brothers in North America. At the request of Bishop Charbonnel, five Brothers came to Toronto in 1851 and established a grammar school at the corner of Lombard and Jarvis Streets. In September of that year, the Brothers extended their ministry to St. Paul's School, which is still in existence today. Among their early graduates was Denis T. O'Connor, who became the first Canadian born Archbishop of Toronto in 1899. The Brothers opened their own secondary school in 1863 on Jarvis Street, originally called the Christian Brothers Commercial Academy. In 1871, the school constructed a new building on Duke Street (258 Adelaide St. East today), and the name was changed to De La Salle Institute. The institute purchased the former post office next door (First Toronto Post Office) in 1874. Twenty years later, the school was extended to include secondary education and took over the former Bank of Upper Canada building next door. The name De La Salle Institute was changed to De La Salle College in 1880, when university entrance courses were added to the commercial curriculum. The three building site still stands at the corner of Adelaide and George Streets as 252–264 Adelaide Street East. The next major step occurred in 1913, when De La Salle College took over part of the 67 Bond Street building adjacent to St. Michael's Cathedral. In 1916, the College vacated the buildings on Adelaide Street. In 1925, the senior section was relocated to De La Salle Moore Park, in what is now Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. In 1932 and 1933, these classes were moved to nearby De La Salle College "Oaklands", which had opened in 1931.

Located in Deer Park, an estate named "Oaklands" was once part of the Crown land that was deeded in 1798 to the Honourable John Elmsley. In 1858, John Macdonald  — a successful dry goods merchant who would become the only Liberal appointee to the Senate by Canada's founding Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald  — acquired of it from the Anglican Church and built what is at present the residence of the Brothers. This land ran up the east side of College Avenue (now Avenue Road) from what is today Cottingham Street to almost St. Clair Avenue. He named the property "Oaklands" due to the splendid abundance of oak trees in the area. Construction of Macdonald's mansion on the property at the crest of the hill, begun in 1860, was completed with a tower observatory that would provide him with a clear view of Lake Ontario some 5 kilometres to the south. Currently, the Oaklands mansion has been designated as a historical building by the City of Toronto, as an example of local Gothic Revival architecture. The property was purchased in 1905 by the family of Cyrus McCormick, whose farm implement business evolved to become International Harvester. The Brothers of the Christian Schools bought of the property in 1931 and turned it into a boys' school. Three benefactors (T. P. Phelan, Abe Orpen and Frank O'Connor) paid the interest on the property's mortgage for three years to help establish the school. Brother Alfred was the guiding genius in acquiring the property and became the school's first Director/Principal. In its first year, the school was home to 270 students and had matriculation classes ranging from Grade 5 through to Grade 10. Ten years later, grades 1 through 4 were added. In 1970, the first 5 grades were phased out, leaving only Grades 6, 7 and 8 in addition to the full high school curriculum. Prior to the 1970s, De La Salle "Oaklands" demonstrated an ordered and disciplined environment where direction and goals were clear and commitment by students, teachers and parents to that culture was strong. In the 1970s and 1980s, society underwent change and the school mirrored the milieu in which it existed. Spontaneity, flexibility and creativity replaced the status quo. The traditional students' blazer was abandoned, returning in 1974. By 1987, the maintenance, curriculum, funding and control of the entire high school was under the MSSB. Individual religious communities have put their stamp on the schools that they have run. Such individual charisms are a unique and priceless legacy to our Catholic schools that should be preserved. In 1989, a flood caused by student vandalism caused over $4,000,000 of damage to the main building. More than 850
students were moved temporarily to the former site of Kingsmill Secondary School, which closed a year prior and later became Bishop Allen Academy. The school was eventually completely repaired and renovated. In September 1993, the Ontario provincial government proposed a "de streaming" of classes, meaning that students would no longer be divided into advanced, general and basic levels (note: despite the participation of the MSSB at Oaklands since 1967, the school had only offered 'advanced' level classes). In response, the school requested of the MSSB that De La Salle carry on as an 'advanced classes only' academy. This request was rejected by the school board. That same year in a letter on June 28, the school notified the MSSB that as of June 30, 1994, Oaklands would re privatize. After much ongoing thought and discussion, the Brothers of the Christian Schools determined that returning the school to its former independent status would best meet the spiritual and educational needs of the Catholic community they are called to serve. In September 1994, De La Salle College Oaklands again reopened its doors as a private, independent, now co educational, university preparatory school. The school had planned to do a "phase out" to allow existing students to continue going to a public separate school, but by 1994, Brother Francis McCrea delivered a letter to the MSSB on February 21, 1994 that stated the school would not participate in a phase out. De La Salle had decided not to do a phase out, and each student was willing to pay $6,300 per year in tuition, prompting protests from some parents. By December 1993, there was a proposed plan to allow the MSSB to pay for the continuing education of existing De La Salle pupils. In order to serve the needs of its existing students at the time of re privatization, the Brothers of the Christian Schools funded financial assistance, from full scholarships to partial scholarships, to any existing advanced level student who wished to stay enrolled at the school. In all, 58 students accepted the Brothers' offer. Today, the school provides numerous bursaries and scholarships, such as the Superior General's Scholarship which finances a students full tuition, to ensure that lesser advantaged students have reasonable access to the school as was the Brothers' practice in the pre MSSB era. As well, Oaklands strives to maintain its tuition levels to be among the lowest for independent secondary schools in the Greater Toronto Area — approximately $15,000 per academic year, in keeping with their Founder's ideals of accessibility to all students. Its replacement school in the area on Avenue Road north of Eglinton, Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School, was opened in 1998 in the former Toronto Hunt Club. This co educational high school has since served grades 9 to 12.

Every December, Oaklands hosts an invitational hockey tournament named after Brother Arthur Brockman (1915–1979). The tournament began a year after his death and is held annually to this day. and the World Champion title at the 2013 WIDPSC Championship in Durban, South Africa. Del student Megan Campbell (2019) won the 2018 World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship in Cape Town, South Africa—the first time ever in the 31 year history of the event that a brother and sister have each won the World Champion title. Megan accomplished this in Grade 11.

Oak Leaves began as the school's student paper in 1938 and is still published today. It has won recognition from the Columbia University Literary Society and the Canadian School Papers Association not only for its appearance, but also for its journalistic qualities of writing and layout.

A boys' camp was opened by the Brothers in 1916 on the shores of Lake Simcoe at Jackson's Point, Ontario. Following a fire in November 1931, the camp re opened the next summer with newly built facilities. It continued operating until 1980 when most of the property was sold to Georgina Township. It is now a town park.

Boarders were commonplace at De La Salle dating back to 1871. At Oaklands, boarders first occupied 6 rooms at the Brothers' residence. The school opened its Junior Hall on what is now the arena grounds in 1936 and two years later, the house at 423 Avenue Road was leased, then purchased to house students. The Gate House at the property's south west corner (which stood guard over Senator MacDonald's original still standing ornate entrance) was converted for student housing. Also, an exclusive home donated to the Brothers by the late Senator Frank O'Connor at his Wexford estate was converted to student housing. With the onset of the MSSBs participation at Oaklands in 1967 (which resulted in an influx of more locally based students), the need for boarders at the school had diminished and eventually, the programme was phased out.