MAPLETON TWNP. – Drayton is getting a new Catholic elementary school with licensed childcare at a $17.3 million price tag.
The funding was announced this morning by Matthew Rae, MPP for Perth-Wellington at PMD Arena in Drayton.
The target for opening is September 2026.
The school would accommodate 222 students. It would include two full-time kindergarten classes, seven regular classrooms, and one special education resource room.
The licensed daycare would be part of the school on the same site and include 64 childcare spaces with one infant room, two toddler rooms, and one pre-school room.
“I am focused on working with our local school boards and municipalities to secure generational investments like this one today to ensure that we continue to build Ontario,” said Rae.
He was joined by education minister Stephen Lecce, Wellington North mayor Andy Lennox, Mapleton mayor Gregg Davidson, Wellington Catholic District School Board’s Tracey McLennan, and Mandy Koroniak, Wellington County’s director children’s early years division.
This will be the first Catholic elementary school in the townships of Mapleton and Minto. It will also be the site of the first licensed childcare centre in Mapleton. The site is at Bonniewood and Conestoga Drive.
“We got to get these schools built quickly. It can’t take a decade to build a school, we will not tolerate that in the government. We have an aspiration of getting schools built within three to four years at the most,” said Lecce.
During a media question and answer period Lecce said the turn around for the school to be built by 2026 is now the gold standard for speed. Outside of Toronto, it used to take on average six to 10 years for schools to be built, he said. The speed of opening can be achieved through collaboration between the ministry of education, the municipality and the school board.
WCDSB submitted its capital priorities to the Ministry of Education in October and an elementary school with childcare spaces in Drayton was at the top of its list. It's being funded by the ministry.
Ventin Group is the architecture firm behind the school and it was part of the catalogue of schools pre-qualified through an internal procurement process. It was used as part of the capital priorities submission to show the ministry the project is shovel ready, said McLennan, in an interview.
“There's a significant growth, currently and planned for this community. And so this school will help to serve those families and actually attract families to this area where there's a school facility available,” she said.
Davidson noted in his remarks the funding came with good timing since it’s the 25th anniversary of the Town of Mapleton this year.
“Like so many other member municipalities, Mapleton has a significant shortfall for full-time, full year licensed child care spaces. And this is going to now change that gap,” said Davidson.
With the investment of a new school and childcare centre this will provide much needed resources for local families now and in the future, he said.
