Bluewater District School Board Opens Public Consultation on Port Elgin School Design
BWDSB is seeking public feedback on the design of a new 409-pupil elementary school in Port Elgin, with comments accepted until May 22.
The Bluewater District School Board (BWDSB) is inviting public feedback on the design of a new elementary school planned for Port Elgin, with comments accepted through Friday, May 22, 2026.
Preliminary floor plans and renderings for the two-storey Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 school are posted on the board’s website. Feedback and questions can be submitted to pesdesignreview@bwdsb.on.ca, and the board says responses to commonly asked questions will be posted on the project’s web page as needed.
The design
The new school will be based on a modified version of the Beavercrest Community School design in Markdale, with a second floor added. According to the board, the approach allows the project team to retain proven base design elements while making targeted adjustments to meet the specific needs of students and staff in Port Elgin.
The board’s materials describe a foyer as the central hub of the building. To the right of the entrance are the main office and staff room. Directly ahead are the library and an adjoining resource room.
A main corridor running off the foyer leads to a double gymnasium, supported by two classrooms along the front of the building, including an oversized flexible classroom designed to accommodate a variety of school-wide uses.
To the left of the foyer are a kitchen and a special education room, followed by three kindergarten classrooms along the front of the school. Four additional classrooms run across the back of the ground floor.
Two stairwells lead to the second floor, where eight classrooms are arranged alongside a resource room and a centrally located teacher work room at the east end.
Funding, capacity and timeline
The school is being funded by the Ministry of Education, which committed more than $17.8 million under the 2024-2025 Capital Priorities Grant program. Under that program, school boards were invited to submit project proposals to address accommodation pressures.
The board says it submitted a business case for the Port Elgin school after consulting with community and municipal partners and identifying enrolment pressure in Saugeen Shores.
The new school will have capacity for 409 students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 and is intended to complement Northport Elementary School and Port Elgin-Saugeen Central School.
The board is targeting a September 2028 opening. School naming and boundary processes are expected to take place in the coming months, with ongoing updates posted to the BWDSB website.
According to information posted on the BWDSB website as of May 5, 2026, land acquisition for the site is 90% complete, with conditions still to be met and a purchase and sale agreement still to be finalized. The build approval process is listed at 25% complete.
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