New Carrot River school will accommodate up to 400 students

New school for Carrot River WATCH: Construction for a K-12 school in Carrot River has begun.

CARROT RIVER — Students and faculty members of Carrot River High School gathered Friday afternoon for the official announcement of the construction of the new kindergarten to Grade 12 school.

Premier Scott Moe and MLA for Carrot River Valley Fred Bradshaw, and representatives from the North East School Division were in attendance for the sod-turning event celebrating the start of the construction.

The new school aims to consolidate Carrot River Elementary and Carrot River High School into a single location.

“So, when this building is complete, we will be the home of K-12 students, not just grade five to 12 students,” said Carrot River High School principal Sari Carson.

“So, we’ll come together as one school and we’ll take two school communities and bring them together as one," Carson said.

The estimated cost of the project is $28.4 million with $25.7 million coming from the province and the balance from the community and the school division.

The Saskatchewan government announced a commitment of $2.3 billion towards school infrastructure projects in 2008 which included building 57 new schools and doing 28 major renovations.

“Our commitment to school infrastructure has been great over the course of the last decade and a half and I would say, as we look ahead, it needs to continue. We need to continue to build schools to provide that opportunity for students and our staff to work in a safe learning environment,” said Moe.

The new school will be approximately 4,400 square metres, about half the size of a CFL football field, and will be added to the existing gymnasium of the high school that was built in 2005.

”I really thank the community for really getting behind this. I also want to thank the school board who also advocated for this school. Let’s face it, it’s an old school and it desperately needed to be replaced,” said Fred Bradshaw, who is also a Carrot River school alumnus,

The target completion of the new school is early 2024. It will be able to accommodate up to 400 students.

“Parents don’t have to worry about where their kids are going to go to school,” said Carson. “(Students) don’t have to transition from one school to the next and feel like they’re coming over to the big school and be worried about it.”