It was built in the late 1950s and opened in September 1960. The school has just under 1,000 students and is a part of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. It has five feeder schools: Courtice North P.S., Lydia Trull P.S., Courtice Intermediate School,
Emily Stowe P.S., and
S.T. Worden P.S. Courtice Intermediate School is located in the same building as Courtice Secondary. It opened in September 2013 as a response to overcrowding at Dr. G. J. MacGillivray. Grade 7 and 8 students from the Dr. G. J MacGillivray area are now directed to Courtice Intermediate.; the French Immersion program for grades 7 and 8 in the Courtice area has also been moved to Courtice Intermediate. Beginning in the fall of 2014, Courtice Secondary became home to the French Immersion program for French Immersion students starting grade 9. ==Notable alumni==