May 14, 2020

Dear Meadowfields parents and guardians,

Our school system is growing and we are experiencing growth in our pre-primary and
elementary school grades. To support this growth, we are expanding Maple Grove to become a
Grade 6 to 8 school, in line with most middle schools in the province. This change will benefit
Grade 6 students with additional co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.

The Tri-County Regional Centre for Education (TCRCE) is reorganizing the grade levels at
Carleton, Meadowfields, Plymouth, Port Maitland, and Yarmouth Elementary, as well as at
Maple Grove. The grade configurations will become:

School Current Configuration Reconfiguration September

2020
Carleton Consolidated School PP* (pre-primary)-6 PP-5
Meadowfields Community School PP-6 PP-5
Plymouth Consolidated School PP-6 PP-5
Port Maitland Consolidated School PP-6 PP-5
Yarmouth Elementary School PP-6 PP-5
Maple Grove Education Centre 7-8 6-8

(*please note that “PP” stands for Pre-Primary)

The reorganization has several benefits for our students. It will allow for Pre-Primary students
to stay at their home elementary schools and for those Pre-Primary spaces to be used for their
intended purpose. Pre-Primary students will not experience increased transportation times
that would occur if the school remained P-6 and Pre-Primary was moved. Maple Grove will
become a grades 6-8 school, which is a very common grade configuration for a Middle School in
Nova Scotia. This will assist MGEC in networking with other grades 6-8 schools across the
province. It will also provide grade 6 students the opportunity to be in a Middle School
environment, which increases opportunities for co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
Most importantly, it will allow all grade 6s in the MGEC feeder schools to be a cohort, which will
assist in building social cohesion and belonging.

Between now and the end of the school year, staff from TCRCE will work with our School
Advisory Councils and school communities to plan for a smooth transition as we consider
important questions such as the leaving celebrations for grade 6 and grade 5 students. A
transition committee is being formed to receive input on matters related to transitioning
students to middle school.

Please look forward to regular communication from the transition committee. We will also
share information on both the TCRCE and school websites, and on our social media channels.

If you have questions or concerns around this, please either call the main TCRCE line at (902)
749-5696 or email us at feedback@tcrce.ca .

Best regards,

Raquel Thompson
Principal