Elgin Street Elementary School

Elgin Street Elementary School Vision Statement

 "Elgin Street Public School maintains an established history, and serves the needs of its diverse community. Our school embodies the important tenets of learning while celebrating and nurturing both the strengths of individuals and our community."

• Elgin Street Public School is a small dual - track community school located in the central part of the inner city. The school is enriched by its diverse socio-economic, ethnocultural and multilingual student population. Elgin Street Public School strives to develop and provide to each learner an education of the highest quality, in a positive environment, with caring, dedicated, and effective staff. Our school actively involves students, teachers, and parents in the establishment and growth of a positive school climate in which each child can enjoy and realize her/his maximum learning potential and develop into responsible, caring, skilled, and confident member s of society. 

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  Elgin Street Public School History

•  In 1990 Elgin Street Public School marked it's one-hundredth year of existence.  The original six room building was opened in 1890 as Ottawa's second school.  The building housed the area’s first kindergarten where pupils were charged a monthly fee of one dollar to attend.  The school building was expanded in 1895 and again in 1906.  Over the years it was used by thousands of students until, in 1953, considered unsafe it was razed by order of the Ottawa Fire Department.

•  A new modern structure, complete with gymnasium, was opened in 1954.  The construction of Jack Purcell Community Centre in 1974 gave the playground a totally different appearance with the addition of a modern play structure and expanded access to parkland.  In 1984 a large bright library resource centre was added.  The library presently overlooks a beautiful enclosed garden created by School Council in the spring of 1997.