Parents are excited for new school

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This article was published 13/05/2019 (2519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Parents are looking forward to a new school that will serve the Waterford Green and Castlebury Meadows neighbourhoods.

The province is building a new dual-track nursery to Grade 8 school in Winnipeg School Division at the southeast of Jefferson Avenue and King Edward Street which is expected to open in 2020. Parents gathered at Meadows West School to check on project updates and provide their inputs.

With the growing number of residents moving into the two areas, the need is evident, said Fatima Mota, superintendent of education services with the Winnipeg School Division. Students living in Waterford Green and Castlebury Meadows are being bussed to five of the division’s schools.

“It’s very important for the children to have their own home school, instead of taking the bus every morning to different schools,” Mota said.

Initially, WSD had four schools accommodating but had to move students into a fifth school when they reached capacity. Mota said she is positive the school will be ready by September 2020 and added they will work with the families and the school to have a smooth transition.

“We were ready to receive students in our schools, but it means separating brothers and sisters, and it means bussing, and it means getting up earlier, so I think parents will be very happy to have a school within their catchment area.”

Kathy Wood, a mother of three WSD students, said she is hoping the new school brings a sense of community to the residents of the two new developments.

“I hope to feel a sense of community. I think it’s a great way for kids that live nearby to get to know one another, and for parents too. Right now because it’s only catered to Waterford Green and Castlebury Meadows it will be a very intimate school setting, which is nice,” she said.

Over the next year, WSD will work on officially naming the school, which has been referred to as Waterford Green School so far, and hiring a principal who will be working with parents in the months before opening. 

The 76,430-square-foot school will have room for 600 students in English and French immersion programs. If needed, the school also can add nine classrooms, expanding its capacity to approximately 825 students. It will also feature a daycare for 54 preschool and 20 infant spaces. 

“The school looks cool, definitely not the kind of elementary school I went to,” said Trisha Dizor-Tan, whose kids will also attend Waterford Green school. 

For the older students, the school will feature a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics lab, two science labs, an art room, a home economics lab, an industrial arts lab, and a large gym that will be open to the public.

“It’s such a good advantage to have this modern infrastructure. I know in some schools it takes longer to get approvals, so I think it’s nice that they are setting the school up for advanced learning,” parent Alexis Marshall said.

For more information on the new school, go to https://www.winnipegsd.ca/ourschools/newschool/Pages/Default.aspx