(File photo/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Horizon SD

A year of change in Horizon School Division

Jun 26, 2025 | 12:02 PM

The Horizon School Division (HSD) is undergoing some major changes as the 2024-25 school year comes to an end.

Director of Education Kevin Garinger told northeastNOW the school year featured many highlights.

Two important opportunities in the division included an Agriculture Day and a Mining Day.

“Those are exciting opportunities to give our students an understanding of what is out there in terms of their learning, their job prospects, and that sort of thing, in those important fields within our province,” Garinger explained. “Those are obviously really important chances for us to really bring students together and give them those experiences.”

Garinger said another initiative was the division’s Christmas Hamper program that supported over 400 students and more than 150 families. The program was in its 11th year, and Garinger thanked everyone who helped make it happen this year and will do so in the future.

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Children from the Lanigan and Drake areas are seeing a major change with the opening of the new Lanigan School in the fall. The Pre-K to Grade 12 school replaces the former high school and elementary school. It’s a similar story in Kelvington, as the schools amalgamate into one school starting this fall.

“That whole construction phase has been an important part of our work and has led to great opportunities for our kids.”

The new school in Lanigan. (Horizon School Division/Facebook)

The division also welcomed Vier Lake Colony School under its umbrella, the fourth colony school to call Horizon School Division home.

Other changes in the division, and divisions across the province, came about after the school board elections this fall. Garinger thanked those that were part of the board in the previous term, and those that were elected in the fall.

Early years learning and literacy have been a significant focus for school boards province-wide as well, and Garinger said they’ve been fortunate to have an Early Years Family Resource Centre for several years in Humboldt. Students have come from as far away as Ituna and Wakaw.

The Horizon School Division is also the first in the province to have a Mobile Early Learning Unit.

The unit “will support our communities where we’re not able to have a Pre-K/K program or a K program,” said Garinger. “That’s going to be another addition to our school division.”

Garinger said the impacts of early learning on student success in the future is well-documented, and the division is doing their best to support children from an early age.

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com