Ontario Building New Child Care Centre Addition to St. Paul’s Catholic School in Alliston

Province’s investment in innovative and modern learning spaces will ensure students have
high quality education in a safe and healthy environment

As part of Ontario’s ongoing efforts to build and improve local schools, the province has provided the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board with approval to issue the tender for the new addition at St. Paul’s Catholic School to create more child care spaces. This is supported by an investment of $3.3 million.

The Government of Ontario has announced more than $27.6 billion in education funding for the 2023-24 school year, the highest investment in public education in Ontario’s history. Investing in the province’s schools is an integral part of the government’s plan to address the shortage of skilled labour and help prepare our young people for the jobs of the future.

Additional actions Ontario has taken to support students for the jobs of tomorrow include:

• Expanding the Dual Credit program to help more secondary students participate
in apprenticeship training and courses related to technological education, Early
Childhood Education, and healthcare;
• Requiring all students to earn a Grade 9 or 10 Technological Education credit as
part of their Ontario Secondary School Diploma, starting with the cohort of
students entering Grade 9 in September 2024;
• Investing more than $175 million for enhanced tutoring support programs
delivered by school boards and community partners, with a focus on reading,
writing and math;
• Updating the curriculum to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow, including
opportunities in the skilled trades;
• Providing more money to build schools and improve education; and
• Allocating nearly $114 million – the highest amount in Ontario history to support
student mental health.

Once completed, this project will deliver 49 licensed child care spaces for local families. The investment is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to providing about $15 billion to support school construction, repair, and renewal over 10 years. Since 2018, the government has approved nearly 200 school construction projects and the development of more than 300 child care and education building related projects, of which more than 100 are actively under construction.

Additionally, Ontario is taking action to ensure that school board capital assets are used effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of growing communities, support student learning and ensure value for taxpayer dollars. The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will empower decision-makers to build modern schools faster by better utilizing school capacity, reducing barriers for school boards to facilitate agreements for schools in multi-use buildings such as condo towers, and shortening planning time by requiring school boards to use certain designs or plans when constructing, renovating, or making additions to schools.

“The funding for a new child care centre addition at St. Paul’s Catholic School in Alliston is great news for our community,” said Brian Saunderson, MPP for Simcoe-Grey. “This investment will ensure families have access to a quality learning environment in the years ahead.”

“Our government is investing about $15 billion over ten years to build new schools, improve existing facilities and create child care spaces to ensure young people can reach their full potential,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. “By building the new state-of-the-art child care centre addition at St. Paul’s Catholic School in Alliston, as well as updating the curriculum, investing in tutoring and mental health supports for the year ahead, and encouraging students to take a good look at rewarding careers in the skilled trades, our government is taking action to prepare Ontario’s young people for the jobs of the future.”

“Under Premier Ford’s leadership, we’re building more state-of-the-art schools to support the needs of Ontario’s students, families and growing communities. By investing in innovative and modern learning spaces, we’re ensuring students have access to the quality education that will provide them with lifelong skills and education in a safe and healthy environment,” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These investments are one of the ways we’re delivering on our promise to build Ontario, with an infrastructure budget of more than $148 billion over the next decade.”

Highlights of the project include:
• 49 new licensed child care spaces
• 3 new child care rooms

“Our Catholic schools in the Alliston and New Tecumseth area continue to experience growth and so we are certainly grateful that the provincial government is continuing to make investments in school infrastructure projects,” said Frances Bagley, Director of Education. “We know that childcare spaces are important for our families and so this addition to St. Paul’s Catholic School will certainly be of great benefit not only for the school, but for the community in general.”

Quick Facts:
• Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $2.2 billion in capital
projects in education, including 100 new schools, 88 additions and renovations to
existing facilities and nearly 6,500 new licensed child care spaces.
• For the 2023-24 school year, the province is providing school boards with
approximately $1.4 billion in funding to revitalize and renew aged building
systems and components.
• In April 2023, Ontario introduced The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act
that will ensure the public education system focuses on what matters most:
important life-long skills such as reading, writing and math; improve
accountability and transparency for parents and families; and build schools faster
while better utilizing current school spaces to get more classrooms into
communities that need them.
• In March 2022, the Governments of Canada and Ontario signed a $13.2 billion
agreement that will lower child care fees in stages for families, delivering an
average of $10 a day child care by September 2025.

St. Paul’s Catholic School is located at 100 James A. McCague Ave. in Alliston.