EDUCATING SCUGOG Construction for a new Port Perry Public School started August 3, 1982 Next month marks 60 years since the bulldozers started clearing a site on Queen St. for construction of a new school for elementary students from Port Perry and the area. Work got underway on the new $250,000 Port Perry Public School on August 3, 1952, in an effort to alleviate overcrowding at the Rosa Street school. Kindergarten classes had to be suspended for the 1952-1953 school year due to lack of space. Construction on the new elementary school continued through the winter and following summer, opening in time for classes to begin in September 1953. Port Perry Public School was later renamed R.H. Cornish Public School, to honour its longtime principal Roy H. Cornish. From 1927, when the new Port Perry High School opened it’s doors, the new facility was shared by both public and high school students. Even today you can still see the signs above the entrances indicating which door for students to enter. 12 FOCUS - JULY 2012 07. JULY FOCUS 64 pages.indd 12 PORT PERRY HIGH/ PUBLIC SCHOOL wt Perry’s new high school, which opened in Sentero ea, served high and pubile 8 schoo! until a pub- lic school (R.H. Cornish) was built 25 years later. The new public school was opened in September 1953. At left, signage near the roofline of the building's east side identify separate entrances for the public and high school students. Girls entered from the east side and boys from the west side. Port Perry Public School staff 1953 Back left, Mrs. Anne Mac- Audry Lee, Miss Gladys Job- lin, Miss Eunice Wilson and Mrs. Aleta MacFarlane. Front left, J. Reader, care- taker; Roy H. Cornish, princi- pal and Samuel A. Cawker, assistant principal. 12-06-25 11:13 AM