A
think tank created the concept of the school. UFA was owned by the
Toronto Board of Education until its merger into the
Toronto District School Board. 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." 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. Ursula Franklin Academy moved into
Western Technical-Commercial School in September 2002. ==Notable alumni==