About Us
Widen your world at WESS
West Elgin Secondary School (WESS) 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.
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 have a wonderfully active community and Alumni Association.
Why Choose West Elgin?
West Elgin is a small, but mighty school! There are many benefits to attending a smaller high school, including a strong sense of school pride, greater opportunities to participate on school teams, and greater opportunities to develop leadership skills both in and out of the classroom.
We provide incoming grade 9 students with a strong transitions program including Into the Wild, a two-day retreat with senior leaders to foster positive connections with students and the school.
WESS has three superb Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) programs in Agriculture, Environmental Studies and Information and Communication Technology. These programs give student hands-on experience and industry connections to kickstart your post-secondary career. Our Cooperative Education program also provides our students with meaningful real-world learning experiences in a wide variety of workplaces.
The school has benefitted from millions of dollars' worth of renovations, including a new woodshop, culinary kitchen, library along with upgraded HVAC, lighting and student lockers. Our building features a wonderful gymnasium, computer labs, a modern fitness centre, an outdoor track and playing fields, and our strong technical program features auto, welding, machine shops along with an updated Computer Assisted Design lab.
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.
Explore a variety of engaging clubs and athletic teams that cater to diverse interests – there is something for everyone at WESS!