Oakville's next high school opens in 2027 and still needs a name

What happened

The Halton District School Board is asking students, families and community members to suggest a name for the new secondary school it is building at 4020 Sixth Line in north Oakville. The school is due to open in September 2027, and submissions close on 13 September 2026.

Suggestions can be made through the board's online form or by mail to the Communications and Engagement Department at the board office in Burlington. The board publishes guiding principles for proposed school names on its School Naming page.

Key facts

How the name gets chosen

The board has set out a three-step process. A committee representing students, parents and guardians, and staff reviews every submission and builds a shortlist. The Board of Trustees then selects a name from that shortlist. The selected name goes to the Ministry of Education for final approval, and only once approved is it shared publicly.

That last step is not a formality worth skipping over. School names in Ontario are approved by the province, and the board cannot confirm a name before that approval lands.

Why it matters

A new secondary school in north Oakville is a bigger event than a naming exercise suggests. Secondary catchments are large, and adding one changes the attendance areas of every high school around it. The board's accommodation planning page currently lists an Oakville NE #1 Secondary School and French Immersion review as an active boundary review, and a North Oakville Secondary School Temporary Enrolment Redirection that is paused.

Naming is also the one part of this process where the public has direct, low-friction input. Boundary reviews are technical and constrained; a name is a choice about what a community wants to say about itself, and the window is open for a week.

What happens next