New grade 7-12 high school coming to West Nipissing

Board announces plans for a new school to be built next year.

Last week, the provincial government announced $18.3 million in funding for Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario (CSPNE) to build a new high school in Sturgeon Falls.

Currently CSPNE operates École secondaire publique Nipissing Ouest (ESPNO) in Sturgeon Falls. ESPNO was previously known as École Publique Northern and shares a building with the english public high school, Northern Secondary.

The funding will allow CSPNE to give the french public high school it’s own building which will be able to welcome up to 253 students.

CSPNE’s Director of Education, Yves Laliberté told Radio-Canada last week that the new high school will allow them to accomodate students from grade 7 to grade 12.

”Le projet va nous permettre de regrouper les élèves de la 7e à la 12e. Ils auront accès à tous les locaux spécialisés qu'on peut retrouver dans une école secondaire: les ateliers, les laboratoires de science, la technologie, un plus grand gymnase.” - Director of Education, Yves Laliberté

Laliberté stated that he expects construction to start in the summer of 2025 which will allow the school to open for the fall of 2026 or 2027. The exact location of the new school has not been confirmed yet.

These plans will likely address an ongoing capacity issue for Sturgeon’s french public elementary school. As a pre-kindergarten to grade 8 school, Jeunesse Active has seen much growth over the last ten years which has forced them to use a number of portable classrooms.

Seeing grade 7 and 8 students move to the highschool in the next couple of years should give the school more room.

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