EIPS Transition Plan Engagement

EIPS is in the initial stages of developing a transition plan for students impacted by the decision to relocate the senior high French Immersion program and balance senior high enrolment in Sherwood Park. Throughout 2024-25, several consultations are planned to ensure a smooth and successful transition for everyone involved.

Where are we now:

Latest Update

Thank you to all families and students who completed Elk Island Public Schools’ (EIPS) Transition Planning Engagement Survey. The feedback provided was invaluable and helped the Division develop a draft transition plan. To goal: To ensure smooth transitions for everyone impacted by the decision to relocate the senior high French Immersion program and balance senior high enrolment in Sherwood Park.

With the draft plan now complete, EIPS wants to hear from you again.

Join us for a drop-in public information session on Jan. 29, 2025. There, EIPS will share the draft transition plan in detail with stakeholders—for Solution 1: senior high French Immersion students; and Solution 2: senior high students living in the Lakeland Ridge area. Attendees will also have the chance to learn more about the senior high schools, speak with EIPS representatives, ask questions and share their thoughts.

Event Details: Public Information Session
Date: Jan. 29, 2025
Time: drop in anytime between 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Salisbury Composite High; 20 Festival Way.; Sherwood Park
Room: gymnasium
Who: open to all impacted students, families and staff
*childcare provided
NOTE: To help you prepare, the Division will send stakeholders a copy of the draft transition plan—closer to the meeting date. So, stay tuned.

Can’t make the meeting? That’s OK. You can still provide input by completing an online feedback form—available from January 30 to February 3. EIPS will send the feedback form link to stakeholders and post it online following the public information session.

EIPS encourages everyone to attend the upcoming public information session and share their thoughts—as it will help inform next steps and fine-tune the final version of the transition plan. We look forward to seeing you there!

Learn more:
What We Heard Report: Transition Planning Engagement Survey

Frequently Asked Questions

Background & Project History

Last year, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) finalized the last project listed within its three-year public engagement plan, which aimed to enhance programming offered throughout the Division. One of the four projects listed within the initiative, Project 1, involved engaging Strathcona County school communities about how best to accommodate students with the Division’s existing infrastructure. Specifically, how to address school capacity issues, improve attendance areas for junior high, balance senior high enrolment in Sherwood Park and enhance accommodations for French Immersion programming.

Between 2022 and 2024, significant work went into engaging stakeholders to determine the best solutions. After an exhaustive review of the stakeholder feedback, background information, trends, facts and figures, enrolment projections, attendance boundaries, available infrastructure, and input from working-group meetings with principals and staff, the Board determined how best to address the anticipated enrolment pressures in Ardrossan, enhance French Immersion program retention and balance senior high enrolment in Sherwood Park. The solution:

To relocate EIPS’ senior high French Immersion program, grades 10 to 12, to Salisbury Composite High—effective when the Sherwood Park replacement school opens.
To adjust Strathcona County’s senior high attendance boundaries by redesignating students residing in Lakeland Ridge’s junior attendance area to Bev Facey Community High for grades 10 to 12—effective when the Sherwood Park replacement school opens.

Both are effective when the new Sherwood Park replacement school opens, expected in the 2026-27 school year. Overall, the solution aligns with the feedback heard, supports divisional program goals, addresses enrolment concerns and is sustainable into the future.

To ensure EIPS gets the transition supports right, the Division has several consultation phases planned. In Phase 1, EIPS developed a draft transition plan, based on survey feedback from impacted students, staff and families, which ran November 7-20. The survey asked respondents a series of questions about their individual needs, concerns, goals and suggestions to make the transition as successful as possible.

In Phase 2, EIPS finalized the draft plan—using the survey data, considering local needs, program requirements and related outcomes-oriented strategies. Now, in Phase 3, the Division will share the draft plan at a public feedback session—collecting even more input from stakeholders to help fine-tune and perfect a final version—Phase 4.