Video · Waterloo · Winston Churchill Public School
Winston Churchill Public School in Waterloo had 320 students in 2024–25, in a building with permanent places for 216. Since 2016 the board has first asked Queen’s Park to fund 17 school projects, and Churchill wasn’t one of them.
In June 2026, council approved 2,823 homes inside Churchill’s boundary. Here’s the map, the numbers, the motion I’d move, and the sources.
The written version
A viewer asked on my Lexington video. This is my answer in writing, with every number sourced.
Under my Lexington video, someone asked me to look at Winston Churchill Public School in Waterloo. So I did.[13]
In 2024–25, Churchill had 320 students.[1] The board’s 2020–2030 plan gives the building 216 permanent places, and that number doesn’t count portables.[2] That’s roughly 148% of its permanent capacity. By the Ministry’s October headcount, it has had more students than permanent places in each of the fourteen years from 2011–12 to 2024–25.[1][3] The school opened in 1965.[4]
In 2025, the board commented on a housing application at 446 Albert Street, a few hundred metres from the school. It wrote that the site is in Churchill’s boundary, and that its own 2020–2030 plan “projects long-term over-utilization” at Churchill, MacGregor and Waterloo Collegiate.[5]
In June 2026, Waterloo council approved 2,823 homes on that site: 12 towers, planned in five stages.[6] On the board’s 2026–27 boundary map, the site is inside Churchill’s JK–6 area.[7]
Rebuilds and additions are Queen’s Park’s to fund. The main way a board asks is Capital Priorities: once a year, it sends the Ministry its most urgent needs, and the Ministry decides what to fund.[11] Since 2016, the board has first asked for 17 projects. Churchill wasn’t one of them. No round on record, back to 2010–11, includes a Churchill project (the lists before 2016 are incomplete), and it isn’t on the board’s September 2026 list of proposed rebuilds and additions either.[8][10]
The record doesn’t say why. It shows what the board sent, and Churchill wasn’t in it. It also means Queen’s Park hasn’t turned Churchill down. There’s no request on record for it to answer.
Winston Churchill needs a rebuild. The motion I’d move is for the board to write the business case for it, send it to Queen’s Park, and publish whatever comes back, so parents can read the answer for themselves.
The numbers
Permanent places are the building itself: the board’s on-the-ground capacity, which doesn’t count portables.
320 students against 216 permanent places is roughly 148% of permanent capacity: 104 students beyond the building’s own places.[1][2]
The Ministry’s October 31, 2024 headcount, rounded to the nearest five, against the capacity in the board’s 2020–2030 plan, the newest it has published. This doesn’t mean 104 students have no classroom. In 2025 the board wrote that portable classrooms were on site at Churchill and its two neighbouring schools.[5]
From 220 students in 2011–12 to 320 in 2024–25. By the October headcount, more students than permanent places every year.[1]
Students: the Ministry’s October 31 count each year. Permanent places: the provincial facility file to 2020–21 (213, then 219, then 216), then the board’s 2020 plan.[3][2] The board has not published a newer capacity figure.
| School year | Students | Permanent places | Students ÷ places |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | 220 | 213 | 103% |
| 2012–13 | 246 | 213 | 115% |
| 2013–14 | 244 | 213 | 115% |
| 2014–15 | 241 | 219 | 110% |
| 2015–16 | 229 | 219 | 105% |
| 2016–17 | 255 | 216 | 118% |
| 2017–18 | 275 | 216 | 127% |
| 2018–19 | 270 | 216 | 125% |
| 2019–20 | 295 | 216 | 137% |
| 2020–21 | 275 | 216 | 127% |
| 2021–22 | 325 | 216 | 150% |
| 2022–23 | 300 | 216 | 139% |
| 2023–24 | 325 | 216 | 150% |
| 2024–25 | 320 | 216 | 148% |
The map
In June 2026, Waterloo council approved 2,823 homes at 446 Albert Street, about 350 metres from the school. On the board’s own boundary map, the site is in Churchill’s JK–6 area.[6][7]
The whole 446 Albert site sits inside the boundary, a few hundred metres southwest of the school.
The board’s 2026–27 attendance area: where a family’s address is assigned today.
About 3.3 km across and 4.3 km north to south[7]
A different building site, on Quiet Place off Albert Street. It isn’t part of the 2,823.[12]
About 350 m in a straight line from the school to the 446 Albert address point.[14]
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).[14] Boundary from the board’s 2026–27 elementary attendance layer, downloaded September 30, 2026. A boundary shows where an address is assigned today. In the same 2025 comment, the board said it may run a boundary study or assign the site to holding schools before anyone moves in.[5]
| Place | What it is | Inside Churchill’s boundary? |
|---|---|---|
| Winston Churchill PS, 100 Milford Ave | Public elementary school, JK to Grade 6 | Yes |
| 446 Albert St | 2,823 homes approved June 8, 2026; about 350 m from the school | Yes, the whole site |
| 535 Quiet Place | Where I filmed: permitted for a 12-storey, 423-unit building. Where I stood is about 540 m from 446 Albert | Yes |
Approved isn’t built, and homes aren’t students. The approval is for 2,185 one-bedroom, 590 two-bedroom and 48 three-bedroom units.[6] When they’ll be built, and how many students they’ll bring, isn’t in the records I found. The board’s comment doesn’t give a number. That forecast is part of what a business case would have to answer.
In the video I’m standing at a different building site, on Quiet Place off Albert Street: 535 Quiet Place, permitted for a 12-storey building with 423 units.[12] Where I stood is about 540 metres from the 446 Albert address point, and the site is also inside Churchill’s boundary.[7] It isn’t part of the 2,823.
The board’s own words
The public board commented on 446 Albert in spring 2025. The applicant’s planners set out the City’s comments, including the board’s, in a matrix dated September 8, 2025.[5]
WRDSB · Student Accommodation · section 6.3
At this time, the subject lands are within the boundaries of the following WRDSB schools: a) Winston Churchill Public School (Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6); b) MacGregor Public School (Grade 7 to Grade 8); and c) Waterloo CI (Grade 9 to Grade 12).
The WRDSB’s 2020-2030 Long-Term Accommodation Plan projects long-term over-utilization at all of the above schools. Interim student accommodation measures, including portable classrooms, are on-site and may be required until an alternative accommodation solution is in place. The WRDSB may conduct a boundary study or designate this property as a “Development Area” and assign it to Holding Schools before occupancy or sales.
What the board asked buyers to be told
In the same comments, the board asked that every buyer and renter be told: “students may be accommodated in temporary facilities and/or bussed to a school outside the area, and further, that students may, in future, be transferred to another school.”[5]
What the comment doesn’t say
The comment gives no estimate of students from the site, and names no addition or rebuild for any of the three schools. These are comments in the City’s consultation record; the conditions in the final approval weren’t checked for this post.
The seventeen
Since 2016, the board has first asked Queen’s Park to fund 17 school projects through Capital Priorities. Here they are, as in the video.[8]
Every project the board first submitted in a round since 2016, in any part of the region. No Churchill project appears in any round on record.
A project asked for again in a later round counts once, in the round it was first asked. A Kitchener secondary school first asked for in 2015 and again in 2016, 2017 and 2022–23 isn’t in the 17 by that rule; with it, 18 projects went to Queen’s Park in rounds since 2016. I haven’t found a WRDSB list for the 2025–26 round. Status as of September 26, 2026.[8][9]
| Project | Where | What | First asked | Rounds asked, 2016 to 2024–25 | Funded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giinawind (SE Cambridge) | Cambridge | New school | 2016 | 1 | November 2016 |
| Ryerson / Blue Heron | Cambridge | Addition and renovation | 2016 | 1 | November 2016 |
| Grand River CI | Kitchener | Addition and renovation | 2016 | 1 | November 2016 |
| Cedar Creek | North Dumfries | Addition and child care | 2016 | 1 | November 2016 |
| Oak Creek | Kitchener | New school | 2016 | 2 | January 2018 |
| Laurelwood addition | Waterloo | Addition | 2016 | 2 | October 2020 |
| Waterloo-Oxford addition | Wilmot | Addition | 2016 | 5 | Still waiting |
| John Mahood addition | Woolwich | Addition | 2016 | 3 | Still waiting |
| Willow River | Kitchener | New school and child care | 2017 | 2 | March 2020 |
| Breslau-Hopewell Crossing | Woolwich | New school and child care | 2017 | 3 | November 2021 |
| North Cambridge PS | Cambridge | New school | 2017 | 6 | Still waiting |
| Parkway addition | Cambridge | Addition and child care | 2017 | 5 | Still waiting |
| Waterloo CI rebuild | Waterloo | Rebuild | 2019–20 | 1 | Still waiting |
| Sunnyside rebuild | Kitchener | Rebuild | 2019–20 | 1 | Still waiting |
| Ayr addition | North Dumfries | Addition | 2022–23 | 1 | Still waiting |
| Rosenberg II | Kitchener | New school and child care | 2024–25 | 1 | June 2026 |
| Huron Heights addition | Kitchener | Addition | 2024–25 | 1 | Still waiting |
How a rebuild gets funded
The board asks.
Queen’s Park decides.
Ontario school boards rely on the province to pay for new schools, additions and rebuilds. Capital Priorities is the main way they ask: once a year, a board sends the Ministry its most urgent needs, and the Ministry decides which to fund.[11]
In the province’s words, Capital Priorities “is the prime means of funding new schools (built or acquired), additions or major renovations.” Replacing a school because of its condition, and relieving accommodation pressure, are both on its list.[11]
For Churchill, there’s no request on record for Queen’s Park to answer.
What I’d do as trustee
I’m Brian Best, running for public school trustee in Waterloo and Wilmot. Winston Churchill needs a rebuild, and Queen’s Park should fund it. This is the motion I’d move.
Ask staff to write the case for a Churchill rebuild: today’s enrolment, the portables, an up-to-date condition assessment, and a forecast of students from 446 Albert and the other homes approved in its boundary.
Put Churchill in the board’s next Capital Priorities submission, so the province has a Churchill request in front of it.[11]
Tell parents what was sent, when, and whatever Queen’s Park says back, and keep asking in public until there’s a yes.
A trustee can move a motion and vote on it. The board decides what to submit, and the province decides what to fund. A rebuild’s size, cost and timing need the business case first.
The full report
This post covers what the video said. The Churchill report has the rest, with every record linked:
Transcript
A minute and ten seconds, lightly edited for punctuation.
320 kids in a school with permanent capacity for 216. This is Winston Churchill Public School in Waterloo.
Here I am at a development just off of Albert Street. This June, council approved 2,823 new homes in this area. And on the board’s own map, this development fits inside Winston Churchill’s boundaries.
In 2025, the public school board wrote to the City that its own plan projects this school to be over capacity for the long term. But since 2016, the board has asked Queen’s Park to fund 17 school projects, and Churchill was not one of them.
Winston Churchill needs a rebuild. And the way that our board is able to do that, or at least put it up for consideration, is by presenting a business case to Queen’s Park. So the motion I’d move is for the board to write the business case for Winston Churchill, send it, and then publish to you, the parents, whatever Queen’s Park gets to say.
So, back when I did my Lexington video, someone asked me to look into Winston Churchill, and now I have. What about you? What school do you want me to take a look at in our board? Follow along so you can find it when I publish it.
My name is Brian Best. I’m running for school board trustee here in Waterloo and Wilmot. And the election day is on October 26th.
“320 kids” is the Ministry’s 2024–25 count; “permanent capacity for 216” is the board’s 2020 plan. “A development just off of Albert Street” is 535 Quiet Place, where I filmed. The 2,823 homes are at 446 Albert Street, the site the video’s map shows. “17 school projects” are the ones the board first asked for since 2016. The numbers are sourced above.
Sources and method
Ontario Ministry of Education, enrolment by school, 2011–12 to 2024–25
School 615889: 320 students in 2024–25. October 31 headcount, rounded to the nearest five from 2019–20. Not a count for this school year.
Waterloo Region District School Board, 2020–2030 Long-Term Accommodation Plan
Review Area E24, printed page 97 / PDF page 98: Winston Churchill at 216 permanent places (on-the-ground capacity, which excludes portables), built 1965, a 5.2-acre site and a 45% Facility Condition Index from a 2019 assessment. Adopted June 21, 2021; the board has not published a newer plan.
School Utilization in Ontario, Western University
Ministry School Facility Inventory System records, 2010–11 to 2020–21: Winston Churchill rated at 213 permanent places to 2013–14, 219 in 2014–15 and 2015–16, and 216 from 2016–17.
Winston Churchill Public School: about the school
Opened September 7, 1965.
446 Albert Street: comment-response matrix, September 8, 2025
Printed page 13, section 6.3, Student Accommodation: the public board’s comments on the application, which the City gathered in spring 2025. The matrix is the applicant’s planners’ document; the board’s text is quoted as written.
City of Waterloo, council summary, June 8, 2026
“Council also approved amendments and the draft plan of subdivision to support 10 mixed-use towers and two residential towers with 2,823 dwelling units at 446 Albert Street”, proceeding in five stages, with 2,185 one-bedroom, 590 two-bedroom and 48 three-bedroom units.
Waterloo Region District School Board, 2026–27 elementary attendance boundaries
Downloaded September 30, 2026. The 446 Albert address point, and the whole site, fall inside Winston Churchill’s JK–6 boundary (school code WCP). The building site at 535 Quiet Place, where I filmed, is inside it too. A boundary is where students are assigned today, not a promise of where future students will go.
WRDSB Capital Priorities submissions, 2016 to 2024–25 (campaign analysis)
Every project the board submitted to the province, round by round, from the board’s own submission reports (September 2019, May 2021, February 2022, October 2023 and September 2024, among others) and the Ministry’s funding announcements; status as of September 26, 2026. 17 projects were first submitted in 2016 or later. No round on record, back to 2010–11, includes a Winston Churchill project (the lists before 2016 are incomplete). I haven’t found a WRDSB list for the 2025–26 round.
WRDSB Capital Priorities report, September 16, 2024
Printed page 44 / PDF page 45: Huron Heights, North Cambridge and Rosenberg II identified for submission. Churchill is not in the report or its future-project table.
WRDSB board package, September 28, 2026
Community Planning and Facility Partnership report, Appendix A (printed page 104 / PDF page 85): the board’s list of proposed new schools, rebuilds and additions. No Churchill project. It is a planning list, not a funding request. The “2028” in the file name is the board’s typo.
Ontario, Education Capital Policies and Programs Manual, May 2026
Page 11: “Capital Priorities is the prime means of funding new schools (built or acquired), additions or major renovations.” Page 12 lists the eligible needs, including accommodation pressures and replacing schools due to their condition.
City of Waterloo, building permits (open data)
Downloaded September 30, 2026. 535 Quiet Place, permit 2021 022854 000 00 RE, issued November 29, 2024: a new 12-storey residential building with 423 units. The permit check at the exact address 446 Albert finds a completed permit to demolish part of the old factory, which says nothing about when homes will be built there.
Brian Best on Instagram: Lexington Public School, September 19, 2026
A comment under the video asked me to look at Winston Churchill.
Streets, parks, water and rail for the map, under the Open Database Licence (ODbL). Distances are measured on this geometry.
If something here is wrong or out of date, email brian@best4schoolboard.com and I will correct it.
Last updated October 16, 2026
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