A $43 million elementary school breaks ground in north Oakville on 10 September

What happened

The Halton District School Board will hold an official groundbreaking ceremony for a new Oakville elementary school on Thursday 10 September 2026 at 1 p.m. The school is currently referred to as Oakville #5 PS, and the ceremony takes place at the site itself, 3490 Preserve Drive in north Oakville. The Town lists the same project on its Ward 7 site plan applications as North Oakville No. 5 Public School, at the corner of Settlers Road West and Preserve Drive.

The building is a three-storey elementary school for 926 students, with an open-concept library, natural light and 88 licensed childcare spaces. It is expected to open in fall 2028.

Key facts

Why it matters

North Oakville is where nearly all of the town's residential growth is landing, and school capacity is the constraint that shows up first. The board's own language is that the school will support current and projected student enrolment growth in the Oakville community, which is the polite version of a system running portables while subdivisions complete.

The childcare number is the one worth isolating. Eighty-eight licensed spaces attached to a new school is a meaningful addition to a market where licensed infant and toddler capacity is the binding constraint for many households, and it is being delivered as part of the school rather than left to a separate operator finding space later.

It is also not a standalone project. Effie Triantafilopoulos, MPP for Oakville North-Burlington, described it as part of a broader provincial commitment of six new schools and one school expansion for the riding, creating 5,400 student spaces and 440 childcare spaces. That is the number to hold against the pace of subdivision approvals in north Oakville, where a single application now before the Town proposes 6,420 homes.

What happens next

The item most likely to affect families directly is the last one. A new school needs an attendance area, and drawing one means taking territory from the schools around it. The board runs that through its boundary review process, and its accommodation planning page already lists a completed Oakville NE #3 and #5 PS boundary review alongside several active Oakville reviews.