ROCKWOOD – Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School in Guelph/Eramosa is getting a $2.5-million addition to replace portables and accommodate 72 students.
Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Joseph Racinsky announced the provincially-funded project at the Rockwood school on Jan. 9 as school board and local municipal officials looked on.
“When students have space to learn, they thrive,” Racinsky said. “This is great news for the community.”
Sacred Heart opened 10 years ago with just 100 students. It now has 359 students and four portables.
“That speaks to the incredible growth in Rockwood,” Wellington Catholic District School Board education director Michael Glazier said.
Principal Michelle Nagy said the addition will make “a huge difference” for students in Grades 2 through 4 learning in the portables, where there aren’t washrooms.
Students have to run through the bad weather to access washrooms, and Nagy said having students in the building proper will be easier on everyone.
It was sloppy conditions outside four portables at Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School in Rockwood on Jan. 9. At least some of the portables will be eliminated with a $2.5-million addition to the school anticipated to be ready next year.
Glazier said the board applied four times to the Ministry of Education for expansion funding and finally was successful.
With the funds in the bank, the board will work with its architect on a detailed plan for the addition, anticipated to be ready for students by September 2027.
Glazier said he hopes the addition, to be constructed where four portables now sit, will eliminate the need for all of them, but one or two might remain.
The Sacred Heart addition, an addition at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Elora, and a new high school in Centre Wellington are the board’s top three capital priorities, Glazier said.
“Now we’ll get working on that high school,” Racinsky told Glazier when speeches were done.
Guelph/Eramosa Mayor Chris White agreed with Glazier’s earlier comments about Rockwood’s growth in the past decade.
He told the Advertiser that Rockwood has expanded as much as it can in terms of its urban boundary and water and wastewater capacity.
“We’re thrilled with this announcement,” White said. “It’s a big deal for us.”
The province plans to invest $23 billion in capital funding over 10 years to build, renew and improve schools across the province.
