GUELPH – A new Guelph high school for about 900 students is set to open in September 2026, and the Upper Grand District School Board has released a final report with recommendations for its attendance boundary.
While the boundary is entirely within Guelph, some Wellington County students would be impacted by the proposed changes.
Students currently attending Rockwood Centennial Public School, or in Grade 9 at John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute (CVI) and living within the Rockwood Centennial boundary, will be reassigned to Centennial CVI.
This means they’ll be spending up to 15 minutes longer on the school bus.
The new school is currently under construction at Arkell and Victoria roads.
For the 2026-27 school year it will only be open to Grades 9 and 10.
The boundary review involved analyzing eleven boundary options, consulting with the public and providing recommendations.
Of the eleven options, the committee is recommending “Option 8,” which has the greatest reduction in portable use at high schools and minimizes the number of schools being reassigned.
The recommendation is for students graduating from Grade 8 at Rickson Ridge, Sir Isaac Brock and Westminster Woods elementary schools to attend Grade 9 at the new high school, as well as students living in the Arkell Road, Clair Road, Clair-Maltby, Loews Road and Victoria Road development areas.
Grade 9 students at Centennial CVI living within the boundary areas for any of the above elementary schools or development areas would attend Grade 10 at the new school.
According to a staff report outlining the recommendations, these development areas “are all mostly within walking distance to the new secondary school and provide a student population that is balanced to the size of the new secondary school.”
Students graduating from Grade 8 at Rockwood Centennial and Kan Danby or living in the Starwood East development area will attend Centennial CVI instead of John F. Ross CVI for Grade 9.
Grade 9 students at John F. Ross who live in the above elementary schools’ catchment areas or the Starwood East development area will also attend Grade 10 at Centennial CVI.
Some parents of Rockwood students objected to the reassignments because they wanted to keep French Immersion and regular track students together and remain at John F Ross, which is closer to Rockwood.
Some parents of students at Ken Danby Public School also said they wanted students to continue going to John F. Ross for high school.
According to the report, the recommended reassignments reduce “student transportation among the secondary schools in Guelph and significantly reduces the demand for portable classrooms at both schools.
“The selection of the associated schools directed to attend the New Guelph Secondary School was based primarily on the proximity of the students to the new school,” it notes.
Students in Grades 11 and 12 at CCVI and John F. Ross in September 2026 would be “grandparented” and allowed to stay until graduation.
By September 2028, all UGDSB students in Grade 9 through 12 residing within the new school’s boundary will attend the new school.
The board’s finance and facilities committee was set to review the recommendation on Sept. 16, and the board will make a decision on the matter on Sept. 23.
