The original photo is the property of researcher W. B. Jackson of Port Dover, Norfolk County, who appears in the picture. He, his wife Christie McKiee, and a group of their classmates provided the bulk of our student identifications. Other student identifications provided by site visitors are credited on the appropriate web pages.

While we appreciate the efforts of all who have identified students, identifications should be considered tentative until confirmed. The older the "last updated" date on each bio web page, the higher our confidence that the identification is correct.
 
Despite being framed, the original photo showed signs of age and other imperfections, which are obvious on a few of our enlargements. Other imperfections can be traced to the camera's shallow depth of field, and some people not remaining still while the shutter was open. The original print measures approximately 6 inches by 28 inches. There are 402 people (students and staff) in the picture, which appears to have been taken in the spring of 1943.

The photographer was E. J. Powell of Cayuga, who presumably got the assignment because local photographers did not have a camera capable of panning across such a large group. Panned group pictures of this type remained a photography niche market into the 1960s across much of Ontario. Text written on the face of the print reads: 
"Simcoe High School, 1942-3" then 
"J. S. Jackson, B.A., B. Pasd., Principal." then 
"E. J. Powell, Cayuga."

World War II was raging the day this photo was taken. Some students were subsequently 'given their year' for enlisting mid-term, consequently their names do not appear on 1942-43 graduating lists.

Simcoe High, which would later be known as Simcoe District High School, then Simcoe Composite School, was at the time, Norfolk's largest high school. While your Norfolk ancestors may have attended high school in another community, Simcoe High served much of the surrounding rural population. Students from a distance carpooled or travelled by trolley train.
 
At the time this photo was taken, Ontario high school education consisted of five grades: 
9 through 13. Typically students would have started high school at approximately age 13 and graduated five years later, age 18, so the students in this photo would have been born between approximately 1925 and 1930.