 Enrollment at the school reached between 250 and 300 boys within a decade, and roughly 80 percent of attendees were from elsewhere in Canada, the United States, England, and the West Indies.To accommodate the growing number of boys attending the school, a one-room schoolhouse was built on the present site from land donated by the Dickson family in 1853.Additions were made to the original building as required, and by 1870 the school's layout resembled a two-storey stone cross.