Bidding Farewell To Sharbot Lake PS

Jun 27, 2013

In a special school closing ceremony at Sharbot Lake Public School put on by current staff and students on June 20, former students and staff had a chance to bid farewell to the school that holds many cherished memories for them.

The current school was built in 1930 and replaced the former one-room school house, which had been erected in 1887 further down the hill from the present site. The public school is slated to close in the upcoming school year when students and staff will be moved to Granite Ridge Education Centre, the new school currently under construction in Sharbot Lake.

The closing ceremony included addresses by Trustee Anne Goodfellow, current and former school council representatives Sarah Sauve and Cheryl Allen, SLPS grade 5/6 teacher Stephanie Leeder and former staff member Pam Woods. Each spoke of what the school has meant to them over the years and remembered SLPS as a small rural school with a big family feel. Each class at the school made a special presentation that included numerous songs and readings and Mrs. Harding wrapped up the presentations with a slide show commemorating the history of the school in photos from both its former and recent days.

School Principal David Allison saved for the end a special presentation- the opening of a school time capsule that was left at the school and meant to be opened in 2020. The capsule included many artifacts from 1999, the year that it was created.

Following the ceremony guests were invited to peruse a number of old and treasured school artifacts that were set up in a special “memory room” and visitors had a chance to leaf through and marvel at the fascinating collection of old notebooks and other school memorabilia kept by former teachers from as far back as the early 1900's.

While many were sad that the small school will be closing its doors for good in the upcoming school year, many expressed their confidence that the move to the new school in Sharbot Lake will make for an exciting change for both staff and students. The special ceremony represented the final chapter at SLPS, the small rural school perched high on a hill overlooking Sharbot Lake, which will long be fondly remembered by the hundreds of students and staff who passed through its doors in its 126-year history.