As part of a press conference during the grand opening of the new Bison Run School in Winnipeg, the provincial government announced that they will be adding three more schools to their commitment to open 20 new schools by 2027. One of those new schools is a grades 9-12 vocational school and childcare facility in the Beautiful Plains School Division, which was later confirmed to be in Neepawa.

While the project had been in the works within the provincial government and school division for some time, the announcement was a surprise not only to the residents of Neepawa and area but also our municipal government, who knew the possibility existed but had no confirmation of the project before the press conference.

In a statement to the Neepawa Banner and Press, Beautiful Plains School Division Superintendent Jason Young said, “The current Neepawa schools will be comfortably full by this fall. The nine temporary classrooms will be full, as we are adding about 10 students per month to the Neepawa schools. There’s a big need for trades training and regionally, there is a big gap between Crocus [in Brandon] and the Dauphin schools.”

Details about the new project will be forthcoming over the next few weeks. As of right now, there has been no statement about where the school will be located or how the grade levels in the existing schools will be redistributed once the new school opens.

The school is expected to be operational, along with all of the other announced projects, by 2027.