F.M. Heard Public School was located at 100 Garden Street in the city of Whitby. The school’s history began in 1875 under the name of The Model School, a training school for teachers. The school eventually became Dundas Street Public School. In 1967 a fire led to the demolition of part of Dundas Public School and a complete rebuild of the west-wing.

The west wing was rebuilt while older additions remained intact. In 1974 the school reopened under the name of Florence M. Heard, a former teacher who began her career at the school back in 1924. In 1942 she was promoted to the role of principal. F.M. Heard was a French immersion school that provided programming for students from kindergarten to Grade 6.

The school closed in June of 2011 after the Durham District School Board decided that the cost of repairs to the aging school would be too expensive. A new school named Julie Payette Public School was built to replace F.M. Heard.

On April 7, 2017 the Durham District School Board put out a tender for demolition of the former school. The demolition tender was awarded to Schouten Excavating Inc.