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 are ...

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 m ...

, and

Brant County The County of Brant (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 39,474) is a Census divisions of Ontario#Single-tier municipalities, single-tier municipality in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains t ...

in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The main headquarters are in

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

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, and the Haldimand Board of Education in 1998. The announcement of the new board was made in September `997 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 governm ...

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired 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. During his time ...

' 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 *Grand Erie Learning Alternatives (GELA) *Grand Erie Learning Alternatives (GELA) – Simcoe *

Hagersville Secondary School Hagersville Secondary School (HSS) is a secondary school in Hagersville, Ontario, operated by the Grand Erie District School Board The Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB, Originally known as Haldimand Norfolk Brant (English-language Public ...

* McKinnon Park Secondary School *

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. See also *List of high schools in Ontario The followi ...

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 ad ...

*Pauline Johnson Collegiate and Vocational School *

Simcoe Composite School Simcoe Composite School is a high school in Simcoe, Ontario, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. More than 800 students attend this rural secondary school and courses range from English language, English, French language, French, Art, Music, and Mathemati ...

*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 school in Norfolk County. History The first school board meeting for the new high school in Waterford was held on ...

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 (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

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, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

located in

Simcoe, Ontario Simcoe is an unincorporated community#Canada, unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County, Ontario, Norfolk County. Simcoe is at the junct ...

. *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. Antiques from different historical eras can be purchased from downtown antique stores. Norfolk FS (formerly known as the ...

. 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 recorde ...

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 t ...

school for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

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 cent ...

through the

eighth grade Eighth grade (or grade eight in some regions) is the eighth post-kindergarten year of formal education in the US. The eighth grade is the ninth school year, the second, third, fourth, or final year of middle school, or the second and/or final ye ...

as in a typical

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

. 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, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, that taught children from

sixth grade Sixth grade (or grade six in some regions) is the sixth year of schooling. Students are typically 11–12 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs. Different terms and numbers are used in other parts of the world. It is commonly the firs ...

. 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. Paris was voted "the Prettiest Littl ...

, 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 co ...

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