Ponoka Composite High School may get a new name this September.
Wolf Creek Public Schools trustees recently accepted a proposal from the community, staff and students to change the name of Ponoka Composite High School to Ponoka Secondary Campus.
The board’s motion will be sent to Education Minister Jeff Johnson for his approval and to have it switched for the new school year.
Supt. Larry Jacobs said the school is changing its format substantially.
It was called Ponoka Composite High School because it was for Grades 9 through 12 and it had an old industrial arts model of woodworking, automotives, etc. combined with academics.
The school will be changed to encompass Grade 7 through 12 this fall.
Ponoka used to have three schools: a Grade 6 through 8 school, a kindergarten through Grade 5 school and a Grade 9 to 12 high school. The provincial government said it would pay to upgrade two schools out of three and make them big enough to handle all of the population, said Jacobs.
“We went down to two schools because our utilization rate is not high,” said Jacobs.
Diamond Willow School, the middle school, will be modernized next year and then it will serve kindergarten through Grade 6. It will be called something different as well.
“We’ve put all the K to 6 students next year in the Ponoka elementary school and all the 7 to 12 students in the composite high school,” said Jacobs.
Diamond Willow, which will have no students or staff at that point, will be kept open while construction begins.