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Saskatoon’s newest elementary school and child care centre will be built in the Kensington neighbourhood, on the city’s west side.
When completed, the school will have space for up to 400 students, along with 51 available child care spots.
On Thursday, Everett Hindley, education minister, and Sean Wilson, SaskBuilds and Procurement Minister, made the announcement alongside representatives from the Conseil des ecoles fransaskoises (CEF).
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“This is an area of growth for Saskatoon,” Hindley said. “It’s also a growing demand for expansion within our french school systems.”
Claude-Jean Harel, communications director for the french school division, said both the elementary and high schools in Saskatoon are bursting at the seams.
“The elementary school has more than 10 portable classrooms … and our high school is overflowing as well,” he shared.
“This is a huge moment for the francophone community. This is our moment. We’ve been waiting for this school for years.”
The design process for the school is 30 per cent complete, but there’s no timeline yet for either shovels in the ground or a completion date, according to Wilson.
There’s also no budget amount the province is willing to disclose at this time.
“We’re very careful to not put out the numbers ’til we actually see how the design plays out. So the footprint, everything that’s going to be in the facility, every school’s got a little bit of a different budget on the actual construction,” Wilson said.
Harel said without francophone schools, there will be no francophone community in Saskatchewan in the future.
“Immersion programs in anglophone schools serve different needs than francophone schools,” he added.
CEF presently operates 16 schools in Saskatchewan, including one virtual school.
