The Government of Ontario announced on Thursday that it is investing $13.6 million for a new addition at Lake Avenue Elementary School in East Hamilton.
The school, located in Hamilton’s Riverdale neighbourhood near Eastgate Square Mall, will provide 176 new elementary student spaces.
The addition will allow for eight new rooms.
The investment is part of the $1.6 billion earmarked for 79 school construction projects across Ontario.
The province says that the funding will create over 29,000 new student spaces and over 1,900 licensed childcare spaces.
The government adds that this year’s funding will support a combination of new school builds, expansions, and retrofits and is part of its commitment to provide more than $22 billion over 10 years for new school construction and renovations.
Neil Lumsden, Member of Parliament for Hamilton East – Stoney Creek, commented, “The funding for the Lake Avenue Elementary School addition in Hamilton is great news for our community.”
“Through this investment, we’re creating opportunities for students to thrive well into the future.”
Paul Calandra, the province’s Minister of Education, added that “student success starts with having the right environment to learn.”
“We’re building the schools students need, and we’re making sure they get built quickly and on schedule,” he said.
A September 2025 Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) report revealed that Lake Avenue Elementary School’s utilization had increased by 29 per cent since 2020, pushing the school to 140 per cent utilization.
The report adds that enrolment is expected to remain at 140 per cent utilization, which requires 12 portables on site.
Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, the CEO of the HWDSB, said that the investment in the new addition “truly reflects” the board’s mission of “growing together.”
“As our community continues to expand, it is essential that our schools grow alongside it,” she said.
“We are grateful for this funding and support, which will help us create more spaces for students to learn, connect, and thrive for many years to come.”
Ministry of Education data shows that Lake Avenue Elementary School’s enrollment for 2024-2025 was 730 students.
A total of 71 per cent of students did not speak English as their first language, 31 per cent of students are new to Canada from a non-English-speaking country, and 26 per cent are children who live in “lower-income households.”
The school regularly falls below Ontario averages on provincial Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) testing.
During the 2024-2025 school year, only 10 per cent of grade six students at Lake Avenue Elementary met the provincial standard for math, compared to 51 per cent of English-speaking students province wide.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
