‘A vibrant hub of learning’: Site selected for new school in Shediac, N.B.

A new kindergarten-to-grade-12 in Shediac, N.B., will have a 930-student capacity and relieve overpopulated schools in the area.

The future site of a school in Shediac, N.B., has been chosen.

The new kindergarten-to-Grade-12 school will be built on the west side of Ohio Road, next to Route 15, according to a news release from the province.

“With the rapid population growth in our province in recent years, many schools in southeastern New Brunswick are either at or over capacity,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Claire Johnson in the release.

The new school will have a 930-student capacity, with room to grow.

“When we plan for a new school to be open, we always plan for a little bit of projection for growth, so no we expect when it opens that we’ll be able to welcome more people. That’s sort of our commitment to continuing with population growth,” said Johnson.  

The government says the new school will replace Shediac Cape School, which was built in 1958 and renovated and expanded in 1997.

“Shediac Cape School in the last four years has doubled in size and we’ve added also six portables onto this school and that’s just kindergarten through Grade 8,” said Randolph MacLean, superintendent and CEO  of the Anglophone East School District.

It will also alleviate enrolment pressures at Moncton High School. According to Johnson, there has been a 20 per cent increase in student population enrollment since 2021.

“Students are being bussed from here to Moncton High so that’s why it’s so important to have a community school, so students from here can go to school here,” said Johnson.

“I am excited that a new school in the Shediac area will not only alleviate enrolment pressures in the short term, but will provide a modern facility that will serve kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students and the wider community for generations to come.”

The plans for the school include:

• music and visual arts rooms
• middle school technology rooms
• a black box theatre with stage
• computer and science labs
• vocational shops

The government says a library, cafeteria and two gymnasiums will be available to the community outside of school hours.

“This new K-12 school will be a vibrant hub of learning that reflects our unwavering commitment to the four pillars that guide our work: literacy, numeracy, safe and caring schools, and graduation,” said district superintendent and CEO Randolph MacLean in the release.

Construction is scheduled to start in the fall, with a total budget of $105 million. The government has allocated $25 million for the project in the 2025-26 fiscal year. The school is expected to open in January 2029.

The government says several factors are considered when choosing a new school site, including:

• community amenities
• community school use
• catchment area
• accessibility of the site
• available utilities
• transportation strategies
• natural site conditions
• site size

Discussions are still underway to determine what will happen to the current Shediac Cape School building.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Alana Pickrell.

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