New public school in Kitchener ready to welcome students next week

New school unveiled in Kitchener A new school will open its doors in less than a week to welcome students into the classroom. Krista Sharpe has more.

Waterloo Region District School Board is putting the final touches on its newest school.

Oak Creek Public School in southwest Kitchener will welcome around 450 students next week.

Students migrating to the new school are coming from Southridge Public School and Janet Metcalfe Public School.

Principal Jeff Johnson gave media a tour Wednesday morning. He said he loves the amount of natural light and bright colours in the design.

“I was able to give our first staff tour on Monday morning, which generated a lot of excitement,” he said.

Oak Creek Public School will open this year for kindergarteners to Grade. 7 students. The Grade 7 students will then become the school's first cohort of Grade 8 students next year.

The thinking behind that was the students going into Grade 8 this year will be able to stay at the school they have been learning at for the last several years and enjoy their final year with their friends.

At over 80,000 square feet, the building is not only an elementary school. It also includes childcare space that will be used by Rising Oaks Early Learning and a community centre for the public.

"It's quite a massive space. It’s a triple gym, one of the gyms is owned by the community centre, but we are really excited about the partnerships we will have with them,” said Johnson.

Each classroom will have big-screen TVs – no need for the pull-down projector screens many remember from their school days.

Johnson said the school has a number of special features, including teachers being mic’d up, lowered whiteboards for students to use and each child will have what are called “flow desks.” These are shaped a little differently and are adjustable in height.

For the first time, Nutrition for Learning has its own purpose-built room, where volunteers will prepare healthy snacks for each child every day.

And something new, teachers will no longer have desks.

“That’s sort of an underlying theme of challenging our thinking as educators in terms of how we facilitate learning,” said Johnson. “Are we sitting at the desk instructing? Or are we moving around the classroom interacting with students.”

School administrators said all students will be within walking distance of the new school.

On Sept. 6 Oak Creek Public School will be the home of the owls.