Sioux North High School in Sioux Lookout opens its doors to students and staff!

Media Release - March 19, 2019

On Monday, March 18, 2019, our new school in Sioux Lookout, Sioux North High School, opened its doors to welcome students and staff for the first time.

The new school has 513 pupil places with 23 classrooms.  At a cost of $30 million, features of the building include:

• Many large window and glass features throughout the building allowing for plenty of natural light and open areas.
• A sizeable multi-purpose cafeteria/auditorium (or cafetorium) with full dramatic arts capabilities, including telescopic seating, integrated lighting, elevated stage, and a sophisticated sound system.
• New, state of the art equipment and spaces for shop classes, science labs, communication labs and food and nutrition programs.
• New furniture throughout the building.
• A large and bright library with a wall of windows including a variety of seating options and work stations for students.
• A gym with a hardwood floor and large windows that fill the gym with natural light.
• A new music room with skylights to allow natural light in and all new instruments to support the music program.

The new school also includes spaces for our partners, including Confederation College and FIREFLY.

Wayne Mercer, Sioux North High School Principal, stated “Yesterday was a day that was long awaited.  Watching our students enter their new building and explore the hallways was a moment in time that is hard to put into words.  Our students and staff deserve this building and all of the opportunities the new space offers is exciting.  All of this couldn’t have been possible without the work of so many people, as principal of the school, thank you to my staff and all of the Board employees who have worked tirelessly to get the building ready, and to everyone that assisted us in making yesterday’s transition smooth for our students.  It was a day to remember and we look forward to making this new building home.”

Sean Monteith, Director of Education, added “From start to finish the new high school project in Sioux Lookout, now known as Sioux North High School, has represented more than the construction of a new building. It has always been about bringing equity and access to all students from Sioux Lookout, and all of the North. It has been about a new beginning for our communities, our young people and bringing equity of hope for their futures. It is an incredibly proud day and one that we will remember forever. The young people of Northern Ontario deserve nothing but the best, and it is my hope as Director of Education we have made this possibility a reality.”

Background

In April 2014, the KPDSB announced, in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Education, the allocation of $30 million to build a replacement school for Queen Elizabeth District High School in Sioux Lookout.  The architect contract for the new building was appointed to Evans Bertrand Hill Wheeler Architecture Inc. in July 2014, with the construction contract being awarded to Everstrong Construction Limited in August 2016 following two years of planning and consultations.  Official construction of the building, following site preparation, began in the summer of 2017.

A site blessing and groundbreaking ceremony for the new building was held in November 2015. In April 2017, following the work of a naming committee, Trustees approved the new name Sioux North High School for the new school, honouring the suggestion of students on the naming committee to name the school Sioux North.

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