Proposal for new Catholic high school in Fergus takes next step

A first possible standalone Catholic high school in Wellington County could be made possible if Wellington Catholic District School Board’s capital submission to the Ministry of Education is approved.

This is the board’s third time submitting a request for a new high school in Fergus.

While the exact site of the school isn’t locked down yet, a potential site would be the site of St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School at 150 Strathallan St.

The board is flexible on the location.

The main priority is to create more spaces as quickly as possible while also trying to be flexible in the submission to the ministry like if projections change the board will react accordingly, said Tracy McLennan, associate director at WCDSB.

In a previous capital submission request, the stand alone high school and the elementary addition to St. Joseph’s were two separate requests. The 190 pupil, eight classroom elementary addition was approved by the Ministry of Education in 2022.

Construction started in March this year and doors are set to open in December, information provided through email by Ali Lupal, WCDSB communications lead.

Last year the capital submission request was for the high school to be attached to the elementary school. It wasn’t approved.

The high school “... could be attached or it could stand adjacent … it depends on your terminology you're around, standalone. We can look at same site,” said McLennan. She referenced St. James Catholic High School and St. John Catholic Elementary School, where the schools are separate buildings but are at the same site. 

The Catholic high school in Fergus would be a Grade 7 to 12 school. “Within the scope of the proposed project, 32 classrooms would be constructed to create the new school facility,” said in a WCDSB policy and corporate services report dated. Sept. 23 this year.

St. Joseph as it stands now is a kindergarten to Grade 8 school.

An initial and very preliminary cost estimate is $43 million for the high school and is based on a template provided by the Ministry of Education. The province requires capital submissions to include cost estimates and schematic designs. The submission also has to include a business case which identifies an equal or greater than 100 per cent utilization of the school and include area schools "in the fifth year after the proposed school opening date," said in a Ministry of Education report called the launch of 2024-25 capital priorities program, dated July 8. 

The “design space has to align with ministry space benchmark requirements for the specific pupil places being requested, including complying with 90 per cent of the total space benchmark,” continued in the ministry's report.

The other capital submission from WCDSB is an addition for a 72 pupil place at Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School in Rockwood. This would include two regular classrooms and a kindergarten room. “This addition would eliminate the temporary accommodation currently on-site,” said in the WCDSB policy and corporate services report. Temporary accommodation meaning portables.