Grades: 9 - 12

West Elgin Secondary School is a fully composite secondary school, located in West Lorne. The area which we serve is a mixture of rural and urban, with several villages in our attendance area, including Rodney, West Lorne, Dutton and Wallacetown. Our area, comprising 618 square kilometers, ranges from the Thames River in the north to Lake Erie in the South, and from the Kent-Elgin County line in the west to Iona Station in the east.  Most of our students are bussed to the school each day.

The current WESS building was officially opened on November 12, 1952, and a substantial addition was constructed in 1970. The school building features a wonderful gymnasium, a modern library and computer labs. We have a strong technical program with auto, welding, machine shops along with an updated Computer Assisted Design lab.  

We have a modern fitness centre as well as an outdoor track and playing fields. The hallways of the school are enhanced by dozens of beautiful student-created paintings and murals created by the students in our visual arts program.

WESS has two superb Specialist High Skills Major programs, in Agriculture and in Environmental Studies.  Students who take courses associated with these programs graduate with a recognized specialty in that area.  As well, our Cooperative Education program provides our students with meaningful real-world learning experiences in a wide variety of workplaces. The school motto is "Non scholae sed vitae discimus", which means that "We learn not for learning alone, but for life."

Our teams are the Wildcats, and Willy the Wildcat is our teams' mascot. We offer a broad range of programs for all students, and pride ourselves on our students' success over the years in post-secondary education and in their careers. We have a wonderfully active community and Alumni Association.