Thomas A. Blakelock High School is located in beautiful southwest Oakville and first opened its doors in 1957. Our school is named after Thomas A. Blakelock, a prominent citizen of Oakville who served the community in a variety of roles. He came to Canada in 1906, later founded a lumber company with his brother, and held the positions of Councillor, Deputy Reeve, and mayor of Oakville. He served as Liberal MPP from 1929-1944 and was Building Commissioner for the Oakville Board of Education, personally overseeing the constructions of our high school in the mid-1950s. He died in 1974 at the age of 91.

Our motto is: “I was born for greater things.”

Our mission is: “The TAB community works together to inspire high achievement through quality programs, a supportive school environment, and healthy relationships.”

Our vision is: “Empowering students to achieve greater things.”

We have a very diverse, multicultural population of just over 1000 students and a long tradition of academic excellence complemented by a large and successful French Immersion program, four outstanding Specialist High Skills programs (Arts & Culture, Energy, and Information Communication Technology, and Health Care), and a wide variety of outstanding co-curricular experiences for students in the areas of Athletics, Arts, Drama, Music, and Technological Learning.

Our “TAB Reimagined” initiative incorporates four overarching themes: Physical Plant, Distributive Leadership, Instructional Strategies, and Program.

Renovations and construction projects have been underway at TAB for a few years and will continue for the next several years as we improve our physical space and make it more conducive to learning and student engagement. Photos of some of the work can be seen under “Construction Updates” on our website.

The leadership of the school is both shared and distributive. A School Effectiveness Council supports the work of teacher-led school improvement teams in such areas as Learning, Community Connections, Safety and Well-Being, Equity and Human Rights, and Student Voice and Leadership. Our school has an extremely active Student Council which, by consulting regularly with other student leadership organizations and the school administration, ensures student voice is at the forefront of our key decisions influencing students’ overall learning experience.

Comprehensive Program Reviews are underway in Math, Science, English, ESL, French, and all four SHSMs – again all led by teacher leaders in our building. Instructional practices focusses on Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy (CRRP, Inclusive Design, Indigenous Learning, and the incorporation of both anti-colonial and anti-oppressive resources and teaching materials.

Finally – Program. We are pleased to confirm that T.A. Blakelock will be the I-STEM (Innovation – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) high school in Oakville beginning in September 2023! This is a very exciting development and significant capital improvement and school renewal projects are being planned to support I-STEM at Blakelock and, by extension, all of our students!

Welcome to our school! Go Tigers!