Northglen Orchard Public School

While the Northglen Orchard Public School (PS) project continues to move forward, the extended winter and spring weather has resulted in delays to the school’s construction. We continue to work actively with the contractor to try and reduce delay wherever possible. The updated timeline targets a building completion date of late November 2025, with occupancy by students and staff likely early in the new year.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we continue to be very excited about the new school.

We recognize that the delay in the opening of Northglen Orchard PS and the resulting contingency plan impacts families in different ways. We reviewed possible bell time adjustments to help address this concern from families. It is important to note that bell times directly affect transportation networks, and a change can impact buses that serve multiple school communities.

After reviewing bell times, and connected transportation services, the Charles Bowman PS bell time, effective September 2025, will be changed to 9:05 am, while the Harold Longworth PS bell time will remain at 9:15 am.

Both Charles Bowman and Harold Longworth Public Schools have school staff on the yard fifteen minutes before bell times, to supervise students in the morning. The bell time adjustment, combined with supervision time, provides a 25-minute window between drop-off at Charles Bowman PS and bell time at Harold Longworth PS.

As part of contingency planning, staff have prioritized reducing disruption as much as possible for students and staff within the school communities involved.

In the plan, Northglen Orchard PS students and staff will be organized together as classes within nearby KPR schools, as this will enable them to move together into the new school. This will allow all classes to remain together as part of the transition and keep students with the same teacher and classmates throughout the year to support continuity.

A combination of classrooms and portables will be temporarily used to house the Northglen Orchard PS students.

While every family has unique circumstances and driving may be the most suitable option, we also encourage riding a bike or walking to school, to help reduce traffic in school zones and school parking lots.  To support the safety of students, the board supports the use of school safety patrollers and adult crossing guards, in cooperation with local municipalities. School staff are also available every morning and after school, to support safe entry onto school property.

In the contingency plan, Northglen Orchard Public School students and staff will be organized together as classes within nearby KPR schools. This reduces overall disruption and keeps students with the same classmates and the same teacher for the year.

If students were to remain in their current schools and move to the new school halfway through the year, a larger number of students and staff would be impacted, and many classes would need to be re-organized.  This would result in students having different teachers and different classmates halfway through the year. This would impact Northglen Orchard Public School students, and many students and staff within the connected school communities.

To manage accommodation pressures at impacted schools within the Northglen Orchard PS community, it is important to assume occupancy of the new school as soon as possible.

If you would like your child to attend a school other than the one designated for your home address, you will need to fill out the Student Transfer Request Form. Schools are only able to take out-of-boundary students if there is space left after they accommodate students within their own boundaries. This Questions and Answers document explains the process for requesting that students attend a school other than their home school. About the Student Transfer (Out of Boundary Request) Process

It is important to note that Charles Bowman and Harold Longworth PS were closed to out of boundary requests last year because there was no available space, and staffing capacities had been reached.

The child care centre at Northglen Orchard PS will now be operated by Compass Early Learning and Care (CELC). Compass ELC currently operates the before/after school programs at both Charles Bowman and Harold Longworth, and this will help make the transition smoother and more familiar for families.

If your family is already on the Durham Region child care waitlist, you will receive an email with instructions on how to provide consent to share your information with Compass Early Learning and Care. Once you have provided your consent, Durham Region will be collaborating with Compass Early Learning and Care to transfer all family registrations and waitlist information.

Compass will then begin contacting families to confirm spots for programming. To minimize impact to families, there will be no change to the existing waitlist for child care at Northglen. If you have been offered a space or are on the waitlist, your offer or position on the waitlist remains the same. Compass Early Learning and Care will assume all existing placements, enrollment information and full waitlist as the new operator.

The contact for Compass ELC is northglenorchard@compasselc.com or 705-749-3488 ext. 258.

Yes. We are collaborating with Compass Early Learning and Care to increase capacity for the families who need this service. We are also exploring the expansion of after school programming through a potential partnership with BGC Durham to offer an Authorized Recreation Program for students in Kindergarten to Grade 6 to help us assess interest for September 2025. A survey will be provided in early June to determine interest.