Crestwood Secondary School Family of Schools

November 9, 2023

Dear Families of Crestwood Secondary and Intermediate School, James Strath, Westmount and Kawartha Heights Public Schools (PS)

At KPR, we continue to experience significant growth within the intermediate and secondary schools of the City and County of Peterborough. While we are pleased that our schools continue to be a destination of choice for families, our growth within these schools has been uneven. This has led to critical overcrowding in some schools and extra space in others. 

While we will be undertaking a broader review of secondary and elementary school boundaries and family of school groupings in the new year to identify long-term strategies to manage this growth, we need to manage immediate space pressures at Crestwood Secondary School (SS) and Crestwood Intermediate School (IS). 

Crestwood SS and Crestwood IS are both experiencing significant accommodation pressures. For September 2024, the Intermediate School is forecasted to be at 174% of its capacity, with 320 expected students and only space for 184. Crestwood SS is anticipated to be at 101% of its capacity, with 769 expected students. 

In response to this issue, school board administration presented a plan to the Board’s Resource Committee meeting last evening that recommends changes for students at James Strath PS, Kawartha Heights PS and Westmount PS, and we wanted to share this information with impacted families.

The plan recommends that, beginning in September 2024, Grade 7 students from Kawartha Heights PS, and Grade 7 students from Westmount PS (English Stream) would attend James Strath PS for Grades 7 and 8. Grade 7 students currently attending Crestwood Intermediate would remain at the school. 

This measure will provide needed space at Crestwood Intermediate School in the short-term as we establish longer term accommodation approaches for the secondary and elementary schools in the City and County of Peterborough.

We recognize that change for students and families can be challenging and we will be reviewing this proposal with families for community feedback prior to a final decision at the February 27, 2024 Board meeting. We are also committed to working with school communities throughout the year to support these transitions.

We are inviting interested families to public meetings at the impacted schools to learn more about the enrolment challenges we are experiencing in the community, and to provide feedback on transition planning to support students through this adjustment.

The meetings will be held at:

        Westmount PS – Thursday, November 30, 6:30 p.m.

        Kawartha Heights PS – Monday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.

Further information, including Enrolment Projections, the Questions and Answers document and related information is available below.  

We appreciate your interest in helping us make the best possible choices for the students we serve and appreciate your continued support of our school communities.

Sincerely,

Jodi Sepkowski
Superintendent of Education

Questions and Answers
Background Information
Enrolment Projections

November 30 Meeting Presentation

Online ThoughtExchange

To share feedback and questions about the proposed changes, families are invited to participate in an online ThoughtExchange by December 17, 2023. 

Your input is valued and appreciated. Please keep your feedback respectful. Disrespectful or identifying comments will be removed.

Quick Tips:

• Enter as many thoughts as you wish into the Exchange. Try to share one distinct idea per thought

• Your thoughts will be shared with other participants, but not your identity.

• You will see and rate thoughts that others have shared. 5 stars = strongly agree, 1 star = strongly disagree.

• You do not need to rate all thoughts, though it’s recommended to rate at least 30.