New English high school ‘great news’ for St. Lawrence: Berryman

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence could be a beneficiary of the new combined English high school, the college’s director of studies has said.

In late July, the Central Québec School Board received the go-ahead from the Quebec ministry of education for the call for tenders to build a $200-million-plus secondary school to replace the aging buildings housing St. Patrick’s High School and Quebec High School (QHS); the high school section of Dollard-des-Ormeaux School in Shannon would also be absorbed into the new school (See article in Aug. 6 edition).

Depending on construction complications or other delays, the new school, to be built on the site of the now abandoned St. Vincent Elementary School on Ave. Wolfe, could welcome students in the fall of 2028.

Edward Berryman, director of the constituent college and director of studies at St. Lawrence, told the QCT, “I think it’s about time that we have a modern facility for our anglophone high school population.”

He said the QHS and St. Pat’s buildings “simply don’t meet the needs of 21st-century education.”

The project to build a new English high school in Quebec City dates back to 2017, when parents’ committee members from the two schools urged the CQSB to push the project forward.

A major motivation for the project was to have a modern English high school able to compete for students with the better-resourced French public and private schools. Students graduating from an English high school get priority for admission to an English CEGEP.

Berryman said, “All those big projects take a while, but we’re looking forward to seeing that school open and welcoming their graduates … I’m sure it’s going to bring a new energy to those students that will be studying there in the years to come.”