A new public elementary school in southeast Barrie is being welcomed as “great news” by local education officials following Tuesday’s provincial funding announcement.
The Simcoe County District School Board will receive more than $27 million toward the new school's construction.
The funding will allow the board to build a new school, which is expected to have 616 student spaces, in what the City of Barrie refers to as the "Hewitt Secondary Plan Area," and is not meant to replace Hewitt's Creek Public School on Sandringham Drive.
The board says it has property at the corner of Ball Gate and Thicketwood Avenue for the new school, which has a targeted opening date of 2028.
“This is great news for our students and families in the southeast portion of the City of Barrie. We are very pleased to attract funding for a new school that will accommodate over 600 students, easing pressure on our existing elementary schools in the area,” said Dawn Stephens, the board’s director of education.
“We are grateful for the investment from the Ontario government and look forward to working with the City of Barrie on this new project," she added.
This new elementary school is needed to reduce pressure on the existing elementary schools in the area, including Hewitt’s Creek Public School, and will add to the number of public elementary schools in the area, according to the board.
Sergio Morales, who represents Ward 9 where the school is being built, said he was grateful for this funding and the support.
“While housing growth is needed, community infrastructure aligned with that growth is needed if those added homes are to evolve into a resilient community, and that is exactly what will occur in Ward 9 thanks to this provincial funding announcement.”
A new south-end Barrie school was included as one of the board’s 11 submissions to the ministry of education after it issued a call this past fall for capital priorities to school boards across Ontario.
The board's other funding priorities for Barrie included, at No. 1, a replacement for Warnica Public School to accommodate growth, as well as additions at Emma King and Ardagh Bluffs, at Nos. 5 and 6 respectively. The new school for southeast Barrie was ranked No. 10 by the board.