Vancouver Technical Secondary School, often referred to as Van Tech, is a public secondary school located on the East Side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.HistoryThe school originally opened in 1916, for boys only, in the Fairview neighbourhood. It then moved downtown until 1928 when it settled into its present location in East Vancouver. Starting in 1940, girls were admitted. One of the school's founders (and principal from 1930 until 1944), James George Sinclair, is also the great-grandfather of 23rd Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.MinischoolsVancouver Technical offers a wide range of minischool programs.Summit is a three-year minischool program which focuses on enriching the four academic courses: Math, Science, Social Studies and English. The summit program offers accelerated sciences and mathematics, with students completing Chemistry 11 and Pre-Calculus 11 by Grade 10. Many extra-curricular activities are part of the program. Students in the Summit program engage in many extra-curricular activities including a four-day camp at the beginning of the school year, and a week-long horseback riding camp in their Grade 10 year. Students also work to obtain the Duke of Edinburgh's Award at the end of the program.Flex is a 3 year-year mini school program which focuses on the humanities, English and Social Studies. Students in Flex take unique classes for the first 3 years in the program and often go onto taking History and Philosophy. Flex 10 students also get a chance to go to Quebec.
