New, $26.5 million school unveiled in Rosthern

The newest school in Saskatchewan is ready to start up.

Rosthern Community School, located about 40 minutes away from Saskatoon, will be open for prekindergarten to grade 12 students on Sept. 8.

The new school is designed to hold up to 400 students but could hold 500 through portable classrooms if necessary. The new building replaces Rosthern Elementary School which opened in 1968 and Rosthern High School, which opened in 1961.

According to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, this $26.5 million dollar project was long overdue.

“Rosthern needed a new facility. We were on a tour a number of years ago of both facilities. They really needed to be replaced,” Moe said. “We are continuously growing as a province, it’s important to continue investing in schools just like this.”

Mitch Luiten, Principal of Rosthern Community School, is looking forward to the day that the community can use the brand new facilities.

“Things are coming together, we have definitely taken advantage of the extra time that has been made available to us. Things are mostly ready to go,” he said.

The school will offer a new childcare facility with room for 30 children, resulting in early learning, elementary and secondary education all under one roof. This provides young families with the opportunity to continue pursuing their education, job training or career opportunities, a release issued to the media stated.

Luiten believes the new school will give them an edge in handling COVID-19 guidelines.

“The school is very big, we have a lot more space than before. There are lots of new design elements and technology that will make it easier to keep it clean,” Luiten said. “Automatic water bottle fillers, touchless soap dispensers and touch-free sinks around the school are some of the things we have now.”

Despite the excitement, Luiten knows there will be some challenges.

“Both of the schools that existed had their own cultures. When you come together as a new school one of the big tasks is thinking, how you’ll fuse what had already existed into one central place,” he said. “We hope they love it.”