Ursula Franklin Academy opened in the fall of 1995 in the former Brockton High School, which originally was built and named in 1966. The Toronto Board of Education (TBE) planned it as a traditional academic school that had focus on languages, mathematics, science, and technology. John Doherty, a trustee in the TBE, said that "We're not trying to create a magnet school or an elite school that has waiting lists and so on. We want it serving the local community."[2]
UFA has no feeder schools and as a result, students attend from a variety of middle schools, usually after applying and winning a space secured through a competitive lottery system. It was the Toronto Board of Education's first school to require students to wear uniforms.
^Brown, Louise. "Special schools finding they're 'empty'; Funding formula punishes facilities with few students." Toronto Star. May 22, 2000. News p. B02. Retrieved on October 1, 2013. "Dreamed up by a think-tank six years ago as a high-octane blend of academics and athletics, the Ursula Franklin Academy was founded before schools had to worry about paying for floor space." and "These are just three of the unusual Toronto schools in danger of being[...]" and "But under the province's new formula, its home in the former Brockton high[...]"
^Daly, Rita. "'School of the future' to put math, science first Toronto board's only academy to open next year." Toronto Star. May 11, 1994. News p. A5. Retrieved on September 30, 2013. "The Ursula Franklin Academy - named after the renowned experimental physicist" and ""We're not trying to create a magnet school or an elite school that has waiting lists and so on. We want it serving the local community," Toronto Trustee John Doherty said." and "The academy will be set up in Brockton High School on Croatia St., in the" and "Students will wear uniforms, selected by them with the help of parents. No other Toronto public school requires students to wear uniforms."
