The Toronto District School Board will launch an Africentric high school program this September in Scarborough’s Winston Churchill Collegiate, starting with a Grade 9 program in which all five compulsory subjects — math, geography, French, English and science — will have a focus on African heritage.

Despite the late start — the board only began to notify Grade 8 students in early June — it hopes to enroll 60 students by September to the program, to be named after the late Leonard Braithwaite, the first black Canadian to be elected to Queen’s Park.

Unlike Oakwood Collegiate on St. Clair Ave. W., which opposed hosting an Africentric program last year because some saw it as segregation, Winston Churchill, on Lawrence Ave. E. near Kennedy Rd., has been open to the concept, noted Trustee David Smith.

“There’s always been mixed views about Africentric schools, but when I explain the need that brought us to this crossroads — that there are a number of students who just aren’t meeting expectations — they understand,” said Smith. “I believe we will have enough students to start in the fall.”

The plan is to add a grade each year and be open to students from across the city, including the first wave of graduates from the board’s Africentric alternative elementary school, near Sheppard Ave. and Keele St., when they are ready for high school in September 2013.

“We saw that some of the Africentric elementary students actually come from the east end, and we also know there is interest there as well,” said chief academic officer Manon Gardner. “So we’re starting small and hope to grow.”

What’s Africentric French? Think francophone poets of African heritage.

Africentric math? The word problems weave in issues and culture of “the African diaspora.”

Most Grade 8 students already have enrolled in a high school for fall, but it’s not too late to switch to the new program, which will also offer Africentric options such as music, drama and business, Gardner said. The only subjects that won’t have an Africentric focus are phys. ed. and technology.

Unlike the Africentric elementary school, which has its own wing within Sheppard Public School, students in this program will use the same labs, drama rooms and gyms that Winston Churchill students use.

Leonard Braithwaite died in March, but his son David teaches math at Winston Churchill, which has room because it is under-enrolled.

“As long as the program tailors to all students in terms of academics, I think it’s a good idea that fits with my father’s values,” said David Braithwaite, whose father pushed the Ontario government 50 years ago to repeal a law that allowed schools segregated by the color of their students.

The Leonard Braithwaite program will welcome students of all color and background, although its focus is meant to engage black students in particular, who drop out in higher numbers partly because some find the curriculum does not seem relevant.

“We know these gaps exist and we need to address them, so this is another way to help kids get engaged,” said Winston Churchill principal Bill Papaconstantinou. He will also be principal of this new program, because it is not a full alternative “school within a school” like the Africentric elementary school, but rather a program housed within a larger school — think French immersion.

Toronto vice-principal Gary Pieters is president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and also headed an Africentric summer program in Jane-Finch in 2005 — the so-called Year of the Gun — in which he saw students raise their academic skills by a whole level just by being engaged with Africentric lessons.

“The research proves it, and students tell us: ‘We want you to teach us about us.’”

More information is available at the board’s Student and Community Equity Office at (416) 396-6883.

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Africentric courses

Africentric English: will include the works of diverse authors such as Edwidge Danticat, Hill Harper, Dwayne Morgan, Yejide Kilanko; plus historical texts by Wole Soyinka, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood

Africentric Geography: will include a focus on the African diaspora and the identity of African-Canadians

Africentric Math: will include a look at the African roots of mathematics (algebra, geometry etc.) and use African designs in architecture, art and science to explore measurement and shape.

Africentric Science: will include a focus on environmental projects through connections with schools from Africa

Africentric French: will include short stories, articles and poems from Africa and the African diaspora.

Africentric Drama: will include a focus on drama created by authors and communities of African descent,

Africentric Music: will focus on music of the African diaspora to gain an understanding of the elements of music

Africentric Information and Communication Technology and Business: will investigate the impact of information and communication technology on Africa and the African diaspora.

Source: Toronto District School Board