Elementary Family of Schools Clarke HS

Accommodation Planning Update

New School Funding Announcement

January 29, 2025

Dear Families,

We are very pleased to share that the Ontario government announced funding yesterday for a new JK-12 school in Newcastle.

The new school will be located on board-owned property in the Foster Northwest Neighbourhood at Grady Drive and Ruddell Road in Newcastle.

The $75.9 million in funding will support the creation of 1,445 pupil spaces and 49 licensed child care spaces, announced as part of the Ministry of Education’s Capital Priorities Program.

We greatly welcome this new capital funding as a positive step towards addressing the enrolment pressures we are experiencing in the Clarington area and concerns for the safety of students attending school on a highway classified provincially as a staged freeway.

We look forward to the building of this new school, which will benefit students and families for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Sonal Gohil
Superintendent of Education: Student Achievement

Learn more about the new K-12 school build in Foster Northwest Neighbourhood

MTO FAQ

School board staff have been working closely with the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) for many months to address safety concerns that have been raised about the location of The Pines Sr Public School and Clarke High School. In response, the MTO has shared some information in a Q and A type format that may help answer some questions about what the MTO is specifically doing to support KPR. Meetings with the MTO are ongoing as an avenue to discuss issues of concern.

MTO FAQ document

November 7, 2024

Dear Families – Clarke High School Family of Schools and Bowmanville High School,

As a school board, we continue to experience significant growth within the Municipality of Clarington. This has led to continued accommodation challenges within the family of elementary schools that connect to Clarke High School (HS), as well as at Bowmanville High School (HS).

This growth has contributed to Bowmanville HS having an enrolment rate that is 126% of its capacity. Much of the accommodation pressure that the school is experiencing is due to students who are attending from outside the Bowmanville HS attendance area (i.e., out of boundary students). As a result, in the 2023-2024 school year, Bowmanville HS was closed to out-of-boundary students with the exception of students residing in the Clarke HS attendance area.

Students from the Clarke HS attendance area have, historically, been provided transportation services to attend Bowmanville HS. In 2023, 310 students or 75% of the out-of-boundary students at Bowmanville HS resided within the Clarke HS attendance area.

At the November 6 Resource Committee meeting, administration reviewed plans to provide enhanced programming opportunities at Clarke HS, and to address enrolment pressures at Bowmanville HS.

As part of these plans, beginning in September 2026, Bowmanville HS will be closed to all out-of-boundary students, including those within the Clarke HS attendance area.

This change will impact students beginning in Grade 9 in 2026. Existing out-of-boundary students at Bowmanville HS from the Clarke HS attendance area will be permitted to remain at Bowmanville HS.

Administration believes that this decision will support enhanced educational programming at Clarke HS and will provide a long-term solution to the accommodation pressures at Bowmanville HS.

A community engagement session was held with the community on December 12, 6:00 p.m. at Clarke High School.

We appreciate your continued interest in public education and support for the students and school communities we serve.

Sincerely,

Sonal Gohil
Superintendent of Education

October 30, 2024

We wanted to share the following update with families, about the school board’s recent work to continue to try and secure funding for a new school in the Newcastle area.

At the October 22, 2024 Board Meeting, as part of the Resource Committee Report, Trustees were updated on capital priority submissions completed as part of the Ministry of Education Capital Priorities Grant Program. This program allows school boards to submit detailed project proposals to receive funding to address current accommodation needs.

As part of this process, the board has submitted five priority requests for funding.

Newcastle, Foster Northwest Neighbourhood, Grady/Ruddell Road Request

The first priority ranking continues to be for a new build in Newcastle. Significant enrolment pressures are being experienced within the Newcastle area due to ongoing residential development, specifically putting pressures on Newcastle Public School (PS) and The Pines Senior PS.

Given the long-standing safety concerns with the location of the intermediate and secondary schools on Highway 115, school board administration provided the MOE with two options for consideration for this site.

• Option 1-A includes a request for a Junior Kindergarten (JK) to Grade 12, 1,400- pupil-place school plus a three-room childcare centre.

• Option 1-B includes a JK to Grade 6, 481-pupil-place school plus a three-room childcare centre.

The school board remains hopeful that one of these funding requests will be approved to better serve students and families in the Newcastle/Clarington area. We will continue actively working through all available avenues, to secure funding needed to build a new school.

Questions and Answers

Q. Will Grade 7 and 8 students from The Pines Intermediate @Clarke be travelling across the parking lot and driveway for recess, classes, and other activities?

A. Grade 7 and 8 students in The Pines Intermediate @Clarke will remain in that building throughout their school day. Outdoor recess will be on the Clarke side of the joined property. They will only move across the parking lot in rare circumstances for meetings or shared activities. Any movement between buildings will be supervised and accompanied by staff.

Q. Are you planning to install fencing at The Pines Senior PS to accommodate the younger junior students?

Plans are underway to have a fence installed around the perimeter of The Pines Senior PS. The fencing will be installed during the summer of 2024 and before students are on site in September. Please see the map below for the proposed fencing.

Q. What will recess look like?

A. Grade 5 and 6 students at The Pines Senior PS will use the newly fenced yard (fencing will go in during this summer) and will continue to have access to activities like soccer, baseball, foursquare, volleyball, and basketball. Grade 7 and 8 students at The Pines Intermediate @Clarke will make use of a pavement area, as well as the grassed space behind the school for the same activities.

Q. What type of interaction will there be between secondary and intermediate (Grade 7 and 8) students?

A. Grade 7 and 8 students will be in their own hallway at The Pines Intermediate @Clarke, which includes separate washrooms. Secondary students will not have access to this part of the building Both intermediate and secondary students will be monitored so they remain in the parts of the building that have been set up for their use. There are three shared spaces: the gym, the learning commons, and the cafeteria. Students' day schedules mean that there will not be overlap in their use and they will always be supervised during these times.

Q. What if I require before and after school care for my child?

A. The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board partners with third party licensed child care providers to offer before and/or after-school programming where there is sufficient interest from families. The YMCA Greater Toronto will begin operating a before and after-school program in September, beginning at 7:00am and ending at 6:00pm. Please contact the YMCA directly to register for a spot. Tameka Solomon 365-688-3300 or tameka.solomon@ymcagta.org

After-school care is also available for students from The Pines through the BGC Durham recreation provider at the Diane Hamre Recreation Complex, located at 1780 Rudell Rd, Newcastle. STSCO provides transportation to the recreation complex or afterschool care. Please use the above link to contact BGC Durham.

Q. Will rotary be happening at The Pines?

A. No, both locations of The Pines will be using homerooms. This means that students from Grades 5-8 will have one homeroom teacher, as well as a French teacher and a planning time teacher.

Q. Will students attending The Pines still have the chance to have Grade 5-8 events like dances and assemblies? What will that look like?

A. The Pines will be a Grade 5-8 school beginning in 2024/2025. We look forward to having many different events (such as dances, assemblies, and other fun). Some of these events will take place in The Pines Senior PS building while others may take place in the Clarke building. We will share information about the location of these fun activities.

Q. Will there be opportunities for students and staff from The Pines to interact with students and staff from Clarke HS?

A. We will continue to look for opportunities to have shared events between The Pines Intermediate and Clarke HS students and staff. This year, for example, we have come together for a Halloween parade, Remembrance Day, and Intermediate Track and Field.

Q. What transition activities are happening to support all student groups in getting familiar with spaces and staff at The Pines and Clarke?

A. Mr. Avery (Principal at The Pines) has been visiting the Grade 4 and 5 classes at Newcastle PS and has connected with almost all students; Orono visits with Grade 6 students will be happening in mid-May. In an ongoing way, Mr. Avery and Ms. Cummings (Principal at Clarke HS) connect with students who will be moving over to The Pines @Clarke in September 2024. As we prepare for September, we will continue to create opportunities to connect students and build community.

Q. Will students from all feeder schools meet before the start of the new school year?

A. We are planning for students from Newcastle PS and Orono PS to visit on June 5 from 10:30 am -1:30 pm. Newcastle PS students will have a chance to tour and experience The Pines Senior PS, while Orono PS and The Pines Senior PS students will have a chance to connect and see the Clarke HS spaces that will become The Pines Intermediate @Clarke.

Q. Will there be an opportunity for parents and families to visit The Pines and Clarke before September 2024?

A. On June 5th, all families from the Clarke Family of Schools are invited to join The Pines and Clarke for an evening of celebrating the arts. More information will be shared directly with families.

Q. How will younger children be separated from older children on the bus?

A. Students from K-12 typically share buses across the KPR district. To ensure safety of all students, seating plans are required. In most instances, the older students sit at the back of the bus while the younger students sit closer to the front. There are also routines and structures in place when students enter and exit the buses.

Q. If I have more questions about the transition of students from Grades 5-8, who can I reach out to?

A. If you have additional questions with respect to the transition of students, you are welcome to reach out directly to your school principal who can help.