The Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB, Originally known as Haldimand Norfolk Brant (English-language Public) District School Board No. 23 prior to May 1998) is a

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

that has legal jurisdiction over Norfolk County,

Haldimand County Haldimand County is a rural city-status single-tier municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all mu ...

, and

Brant County The County of Brant (2021 population 39,474) is a single-tier municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains the word "county" in its name, the municipality is a single-tier municipal government and has no upper tier. The C ...

in the province of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. The main headquarters are in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

History

The board was formed from the amalgamation of the

Norfolk Board of Education The Norfolk Board of Education (NBE) is a former school district in Norfolk County, Ontario, which merged into the Grand Erie District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 23 until the 1999–2000 school year ...

, the

Brant County Board of Education The Brant County Board of Education is a former school district in the Canadian province of Ontario. In the late 1990s, it was amalgamated with the Norfolk County Board of Education and the Haldimand County Board of Education to create the Grand E ...

, and the Haldimand Board of Education in 1998. The announcement of the new board was made in September 1997 as a part of the "Fewer School Boards Act." This was based on a report created in 1996 by the

Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...

government; who recommended the changes. While the board was officially established on January 1, 1998, many of the administrative positions lasted until the beginning of May in 1998. In 1998, under Progressive Conservative

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

's government, the way public schools were funded dramatically changed. Among the changes, the province replaced local boards' power to levy taxes to fund schools with a centralized system of education grants. The new regime was accompanied by a law forcing school boards to adopt balanced budgets. These changes contributed to school closures and consolidations in the Grand Erie Board.

Current elementary schools

*Agnes G. Hodge Public School *Banbury Heights Public School *Bellview Public School *Bloomsburg Public School *Boston Public School *Branlyn Community School *Brier Park Public School *Burford District Elementary School *Caledonia Centennial Public School *Cedarland Public School *Centennial-Grand Woodlands School *Central Public School *Cobblestone Elementary School *Courtland Public School *Delhi Public School *Echo Place School *Ecole Confédération Elementary School (French Immersion) *Ecole Dufferin Public School (French Immersion) *Elgin Avenue Public School *Glen Morris Public School *Graham Bell - Victoria Public School *Grandview Public School *Greenbrier Public School *Hagersville Elementary School *Houghton Public School *J.L. Mitchener Public School *James Hillier Public School *Jarvis Public School *King George Elementary School *Lakewood Elementary School *Langton Public School *Lansdowne-Costain Public School *Lynndale Heights Public School *Major Ballachey Public School *Mt. Pleasant School *North Ward School *Oakland-Scotland Public School *Oneida Central Public School *Onondaga-Brant Public School *Paris Central Public School *Port Rowan Public School *Prince Charles Public School *Princess Elizabeth Public School *Rainham Central School *River Heights School *Russell Reid Public School *Ryerson Heights Elementary School *Seneca Central Public School *St. George-German Public School *Teeterville Public School *Thompson Creek Elementary School *Walpole North Elementary School *Walsh Public School *Walter Gretzky Elementary *Waterford Public School *West Lynn Public School *Woodman-Cainsville School

Current secondary schools

*Brantford Collegiate Institute and Vocational School * Cayuga Secondary School *

Delhi District Secondary School Delhi District Secondary School is a publicly funded high school that is located near downtown Delhi in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. Summary The rural school had one of the lowest enrollment rates in Norfolk County, and had been considered fo ...

Dunnville Secondary School Dunnville Secondary School is a public high school in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada, part of the Grand Erie District School Board. The school accommodates students from Haldimand County between the ages of 14 and 21. , the school had 562 students. S ...

*Grand Erie Learning Alternatives (GELA) *Grand Erie Learning Alternatives (GELA) – Simcoe *Hagersville Secondary School *

McKinnon Park Secondary School McKinnon Park Secondary School is a high school in the town of Caledonia, Ontario. It replaced Caledonia High School for the school year 1992/1993, which was converted into River Heights Public School. It temporarily served as a home to the ne ...

North Park Collegiate and Vocational School North Park Collegiate and Vocational School is a public secondary school (high school) located in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, that offers academic courses to students in grades 9 through 12. 2023 Incident On March 2, 2023, a lockdown event was he ...

Paris District High School Paris District High School (PDHS) is a regional high school in Paris, Ontario, Canada. The school was built in 1923, replacing the previous grammar school which had been built in 1858, and was known officially as Paris High School until a large a ...

*Pauline Johnson Collegiate and Vocational School *

Simcoe Composite School Simcoe Composite School is a high school in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. More than 800 students attend this rural secondary school and courses range from English, French, Art, Music, and Mathematics to Computer Sciences, Business, Athletics, Cosm ...

*Tollgate Technological Skills Centre *

Valley Heights Secondary School Valley Heights Secondary School (in French, "''L'École Secondaire Valley Heights''") is a two-story rural high school located near Walsingham, Ontario, Canada. The official initials for this high school are ''VHSS''. History Opened in 1971, Va ...

Waterford District High School Waterford District High School, also known as WDHS, is a public high school in Waterford, Ontario, Canada. It is the northernmost secondary school in Norfolk County. History The first school board meeting for the new high school in Waterford wa ...

Secondary school athletics

The secondary schools in the board play in three different sports associations. Schools in Brant County play in the Brant County Secondary School Athletics Association, Norfolk Country Schools play in Norfolk Secondary School Athletics Association, and Haldimand County schools compete in Southern Ontario Secondary School Athletics Association Zone II. Schools winning BCSSAA and NSSAA move onto CWOSSA while Haldimand schools play in SOSSA. All schools move on from there to

OFSAA The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) is an organization of student-athletes, teacher-coaches, student-coaches, teachers, principals, and sport administrators in Ontario, Canada. OFSAA is the second largest high school ath ...

Elementary schools in Norfolk County

*Boston Public School is a 200-student

feeder school A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily design ...

to Waterford District High School that consists of eight grades. *Courtland Public School is a feeder school to

and

. *Delhi Public School (to grade 8) is a 450-student feeder schools for

. *Elgin Avenue Public School is a 450-student feeder school to

and

. *Houghton Public School is a grade 8 feeder school to

. *Langton Public School is a 250-student eighth grade feeder school for

. *Lynndale Heights Public School is a K-8 public

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

located in

Simcoe, Ontario Simcoe is an unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County. Simcoe is at the junction of Highway 3, at Highway 24, due south of Brantford ...

. *Waterford Public School is a public

Waterford, Ontario Waterford is one of the Communities in Norfolk County, Ontario and had a population of 3,132 at the time of the 2016 Census. Waterford is going through a major construction boom with new housing subdivisions in both the north and south ends of ...

. Boston and Bloomsburg Public Schools, located outside of Waterford are feeder schools to Waterford District High School. *West Lynn Public School is a K-8 school located in

. Following grade 8, students attend

for high school. Located within the Grand Erie District, but not part of the public school system, is the Old Colony Mennonite School, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

school for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

s in the community of Langton, Ontario. The school teaches

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

through the eighth grade as in a typical

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

. Due to its "Old Colony" name, Old Order and Conservative Mennonites tend to dominate the campus. High school students usually go to

but recent changes in the school board's policy has opened up all secondary schools in Norfolk County for the eighth-grade graduates.

Closed schools

Walsingham Public School was an

that educated in grades K-8, located in Walsingham Township, that was closed along with St. Williams Public School when consolidation review almagmated these two sites into the Port Rowan Public School. The schools were feeder schools to

. Due to the nearby presence of the ''Old Colony Mennonite School'', which taught the local German Mennonite population, it had to attract students from both the northern and southern parts of Walsingham. Musician Geoff Suderman-Gladwell taught here. North and South Public Schools were

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, that taught children from

sixth grade Sixth grade (also 6th grade or grade 6) is the sixth year of formal or compulsory education. Students in sixth grade are usually 11-12 years old. It is commonly the first or second grade of middle school or the last grade of elementary school, an ...

. These schools were feeder schools to

Elgin Avenue Public School The Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB, Originally known as Haldimand Norfolk Brant (English-language Public) District School Board No. 23 prior to May 1998) is a school board that has legal jurisdiction over Norfolk County, Haldimand Coun ...

. The schools were established in the 1928. Windham Public School was closed in 2009. Students now attend either Delhi Public School or Teeterville public school, making both schools K-8 (formerly K-6). Nixon Public School was located near

; it along with Lyndoch were closed and consolidated at an enlarged Walsh Elementary. Port Dover Public School served

Port Dover, Ontario Port Dover is an unincorporated community and former town located in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is the site of the recurring Friday the 13th motorcycle rally. Prior to the War of 1812, this community ...

, and was a feeder school to Port Dover Composite School before being amalgamated into Doverwood Public School which subsequently was closed when Port Dover Composite was converted to Lakewood Elementary School. Two of the schools located in

Paris, Ontario Paris (2021 population, 14,956) is a community located in the County of Brant, Ontario, Canada. It lies just northwest from the city of Brantford at the spot where the Nith River empties into the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River. Paris was vot ...

, Bethel-Oakhill and Queen's Ward schools closed during the 2009–2010 school year and were replaced by Cobblestone Elementary School. Walpole South Elementary School was a former K to 8 school located on Sandusk Rd south of the 3rd Concession of Walpole Township adjacent to the

Nanticoke Refinery The Nanticoke Refinery is an oil refinery in Nanticoke, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and operated by Imperial Oil, which is majority owned by ExxonMobil. The refuels primarily go to ''Esso''-branded gas stations in Canada and to other oil compan ...

. Opened in 1965 by the Walpole Board of Education amalgamated into the

Haldimand County Board of Education The ''Haldimand Board of Education'' is the former name of the Haldimand County Board of Education created in 1969 by the amalgamation of the West Haldimand Board and Dunnville Board of Education. In 1974 with the creation of the Regional Municipal ...

in 1968, it was precipitously closed in June 1998 because of a Hydrogen Sulphide leak which occurred at the neighbouring refinery. The students were housed at Hagersville Secondary school for the last few weeks of the school year and then the school population was amalgamated with Jarvis Public School that fall with use of portables until a new addition to house the extra students opening in February 2000.

References

Bibliography

*''Inventing Secondary Education: The Rise of the High School in Nineteenth-Century Ontario'', R. D. Gidney and W. P. J. Millar, McGill-Queen's University Press (May 1990), *''Stacking the Deck: The Streaming of Working-Class Kids in Ontario Schools'', Bruce Curtis, D. W. Livingstone, and Harry Smaller, Lorimer (January 1, 1992), *''Special Education in Ontario Schools'', Ken Weber, Highland Press (1999),

External links

* {{coord missing, Ontario School districts in Ontario 1996 establishments in Ontario Education in Norfolk County, Ontario Education in Haldimand County Education in Brantford