Province approves $2M plans

Heather Wright/The Independent

The elementary school in Wyoming is about to get bigger. But the addition for 69 students will still mean the Plympton-Wyoming Public School will still have more students than classroom space.

The provincial government announced Monday the Lambton-Kent District School Board would receive $2 million to create 69 new spaces at the Plympton-Wyoming Public School.

In 2018, the board expanded the Wyoming elementary school and closed South Plympton Elementary School just south of the Wyoming and sent the students to the renamed Plympton-Wyoming Public School.

The new school was built to house 257 students but with rapid growth in Wyoming, enrolment swelled to 301 students by 2025. There are two portables at the school.

The board’s estimates show the school’s student population is expected to grown to 349 by 2030 and 387 by 2035.

The Lambton-Kent board has been requesting a three-room addition to the school for a number of years through the province’s the Capital Priorities Program which helps meet the needs of growing communities. With the $2 million funding, the province says 69 new spaces will be available, bringing the capacity of the school to 326 students – 20 fewer spaces than the board projects will be needed in Wyoming in five years.

Lambton-Kent District School Board Public Relations Officer Caress Lee could not say how many classroom the funding announced Monday would build nor when construction would begin.