October 09, 2024

New Dundalk elementary school prompts rearrangement of student grades at area Bluewater schools

As part of the 2023 - 2024 Capital Priorities program, Bluewater District School Board (BWDSB) secured funding of $28 million dollars for the construction of a new elementary school in the town of Dundalk. This new JK-8 school will accommodate 735 pupil places and will also include a three-room child care centre consisting of one toddler room, one preschool and one family group room to accommodate enrolment pressures in the Municipality of Southgate.

As part of the ministry’s initiative to build schools faster, the capital priorities submission had to include a repeat design to eliminate any delays and encouraged school boards to have secured land in hopes of advancing the construction timeline. In the interim, BWDSB staff in consultation with planning consultants Watsons & Associates have developed a plan to alleviate existing pressures.

Effective September 2025:

• Highpoint Community School in Dundalk (currently Grades 3-8) will become a Grades 3-6 school.
• The Grades 7-8 program currently at Highpoint Community School will be temporarily relocated to Grey Highlands Secondary School in Flesherton (currently Grades 9-12), which will become a Grades 7-12 school until the new school is complete.
• Three new 'holding zones' will be created in Dundalk. A holding zone is an area of high population growth and development within a geographic boundary where future homes will be built.
• Macphail Memorial Elementary School in Flesherton (currently junior kindergarten-Grade 8) will be the receiving school for junior kindergarten-Grade 8 students from the three 'holding zones.'

Dundalk and Proton Community School will remain unchanged as a junior kindergarten-Grade 2 school.

A public information meeting is planned for Tuesday, October 22, 2024 at Grey Highlands Secondary School pending BWDSB approval on October 15.

 

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