It's news the Garden Valley School Division (GVSD) has been waiting on for nearly a decade, and after several months knowing they were one of two divisions in the province atop the list for a new school, it is now official.

Friday, the Province of Manitoba announced the awarding of a new Kindergarten to Grade 8 school to be built in Winkler's Northwest corner.

The school is designed for 675 students with the capacity to expand to serve 875 students with the future construction of an eight-classroom addition.

Niverville will add a new high school for 450 grade 9 to 12 students.

"These new schools are priorities for our government based on the greatest need due to higher enrollment pressures two of Manitoba's fastest-growing communities," said Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart.

The school divisions have agreed to work with the Public Schools Finance Board (PSFB) on an expedited schedule that will enable project tendering in early 2018, the minister said.

"We are working expeditiously to ensure there can be shovels in the ground in spring 2018 and students in the classroom in September 2019."

GVSD Board Chair Laurie Dyck, "It's like this huge exhale...it's actually going to happen. The board is thrilled."

The new K-8 school will be the first new primary school for the division since Parkland was built in 1991, and will help alleviate overpopulation in the city of Winkler's 3 existing elementary schools, Parkland, J.R. Walkof, and Winkler Elementary.

Currently the student population at J.R. Walkof is 561, W.E.S. has an enrolment of 555, and Parkland has 500 students.

J.R. Walkof, constructed in 1984, was built for 225 students. As of September 2017, J.R. will have 17 portables on its property.

Built in 1991, Parkland was intended to house 300 students. It will have 9 portables of September 2017.

The original portion of W.E.S. along 8th Street and Mountain Avenue, and the city's oldest primary school building constructed in 1948-1952 was built to accommodate 400 students. An addition in 1976 bumped enrollment to 550.

Even with 3 new school builds in the last decade, as of September, 2017, GVSD will have over 40 portables in use.

"It's very exciting," said GVSD Board Chair Laurie Dyck. "It's like this huge exhale...it's actually going to happen. The board is thrilled."

Dyck said it's been a lot of hard work getting to this point.

"And it's been the hard work of three previous boards, it hasn't just been this current board. It has stemmed back to a land purchase in 2009, and before that there obviously was a need, or they wouldn't have been asking to purchase the land."

The new K-8 school will be built on a parcel of land purchased by the division in 2009, in the Pine Ridge development, west of 15th Street, and south of Highway 14.

In Winkler, the new 84,000-sq.-ft. elementary school will have kindergarten classrooms, regular classrooms, science labs and an art room, in addition to other specialized spaces such as a large library, computer room, resource teaching space, life-skills suite, multipurpose room, band room, home economics and industrial arts areas, and a large gymnasium.

This school will also include an integrated child-care centre which will accommodate 20 infants and 54 preschool children. The Winkler school will also feature a large space to be used for nursery and before- and after-school programming.

As for who will attend the new school, Dyck said that will take some careful planning.

"That piece will take conversation, and will take sincere planning and thought process to recreate catchments, and bus routes... we will keep in touch with the public and work toward making that a smooth transition for everyone."

Dyck says the division's knowledge gained through building 3 new schools in the last little more than a decade, will be a huge benefit. With the potential for an aggressive timeline, that knowledge will be invaluable. She noted the planning will be based on lessons learned from their previous builds, which included consultation from the public, school staff and administration, and senior administration.

"I believe most of the consolation (for the new K-8 school) is going to happen with the educators and the administration of the schools, and our senior administration. It will focus on what has worked well, and how to move forward with a new build."

The schools will be designed to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver rating.

The Manitoba government, Hanover School Division and Garden Valley School Division have issued a request for proposals (RFP) from architectural consulting teams to finalize the design and tender.

The deadline for submissions is June 23, with the contract to begin by June 28.