The Nova Scotia government has revealed the locations of four highly anticipated new schools for the Halifax area.
At a briefing Tuesday, staff with the departments of Education and Public Works announced the following details:
- Timberlea/Bay View family of schools: a pre-primary to Grade 8 school on Maple Grove Avenue with capacity for 800 students.
- Middle Sackville/Millwood family of schools: an elementary/junior high at an unspecified site.
- Port Wallace/Woodlawn family of schools: an elementary/junior high in the Lake Charles area.
- Bedford/West Bedford and Charles P. Allen families of schools: an elementary/Junior high on Hammonds Plains Road close to the junction of Hwy 102.
The province also confirmed the location of a new junior high school for the communities of Clayton Park and Fairview, which was initially announced in 2018. It will be built on Radcliffe Drive and have capacity for 950 students in Grades 6 to 9.
The announcement came more than a year after the Tory government allocated $50 million to buy land for the schools, but at that time it would not say where they would go or what grades the schools would serve.
In some cases, the province has purchased the land. In Timberlea, it purchased 4.7 acres for $16.75 million and in Clayton Park-Fairview 2.3 hectares has been purchased for $2.25 million.
The province is still negotiating deals for land for the other schools.
Education Minister Becky Druhan said it has not been easy to stay mum on the locations.
“Today I am elated to say that we are making progress,” she said at a news conference Tuesday.
She said Public Works made the call that they were far enough along in their negotiations that the general locations could be made public.
“It is no easy feat to find and acquire land in a growth area,” she said, adding that it takes “vision” and “patience.”
“I hope to have many project updates throughout the year.”
