The local Catholic school board was granted $3.7 million to build an addition on St. Joseph's Catholic High School.
The addition will add eight classrooms or 184 student spaces to the East Riverside secondary school.
The school was built in 2006 for up to 1,100 students. The current enrollment is above 1,300.
"When you think about the accommodations pressures here at the school, we do have portables on site at this point in time, the 184 pupil place addition is going to be very welcoming," said Director of Education Emelda Byrne. "In the sense of where it's going to be located, is at the north east side of the building and it may leave a few portables left behind."
MPP Andrew Dowie, who was on hand to announce the funding on Tuesday morning, said the Ministry of Education is looking to change its process for planning additions and new schools.
"The planning process is so long that the estimates on student population have not entirely been consistent with what the student population becomes. So we need to have a better process, one that is faster, one that is more nimble that reflects the actual student population," said Dowie.
The Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board will now begin the process to select an architect to design the addition. Construction is expected to start in the summer of 2025 with completion in 2026.
