It was founded in 1967 and named after the first prime minister of Canada Sir John Alexander Macdonald.

The school has 4 core subjects: math, science, social studies and language arts.

The students of SJAM find that it is a great school in the terms of Teachers and Community, but found that it needed more funding for renovations.

The school proceeded to remove food with poor nutritional value and instituted "Fitness Weekdays" into their physical education program.

There was concern about the visibility of tobacco displays for children, which they called Powerwall advertising.