West Coulee Station Elementary School held its grand opening ceremony on Sept. 12, 2025. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Grand opening for new west Lethbridge elementary school

Sep 12, 2025 | 2:23 PM

West Coulee Station Elementary School is now officially open.

A grand opening ceremony was held at the school in the Garry Station neighbourhood on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.

Christine Light, Board Chair of the Lethbridge School Division, says it was an exciting day.

“It was really a phenomenal morning to be able to celebrate the opening of West Coulee Station Elementary. It was great to see all the students in there, team spirit, t-shirt, and to see parents and community members and members of government coming together to celebrate the collaborative work that it takes to build a school such as this,” says Light.

When you first walk into the K-5 school, the first thing you see is a large and bright atrium called “The Den,” with a big staircase that leads to the learning commons. Those, along with a gymnasium that can hold the entire student population, are what Principal Dean Hawkins says are the school’s standout features.

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The addition of a “maker space” means that they were able to get some innovative items, such as a robotic dog, which was shown off at the grand opening.

Hawkins hopes that things like the soon-to-be-named robot will help to inspire children to be creative and become interested in advanced tech.

Approximately 470 students are currently enrolled at West Coulee Station, and it has the capacity for 600. It was built with future portable additions in mind, meaning it could eventually hold as many as 900 students.

Hawkins says this school will go a long way in addressing overcapacity concerns at the west side’s other elementary schools.

Although official enrollment numbers for this year are not yet available, Hawkins says the four others all have fewer than 500 students, which was not the case last year.

“I think they did a really good job of making sure all the schools are somewhat at a, you know, I wouldn’t say an even level… but it’s really done a good job at releasing the tension that was there at a lot of the schools,” says Hawkins.

West Coulee Station is also the new home of the Lethbridge School Division’s Spanish Bilingual program.

The additional space at the new school has allowed its student capacity to grow by 30 per cent, compared to what they were previously able to offer at Coalbanks Elementary.

READ MORE: Lethbridge’s Spanish Bilingual program growing in 2025

Light says the staff and students involved in the Spanish Bilingual program have helped to shape the culture of West Coulee Station.

The school has been several years in the making and received $32.9 million in capital funding from the Alberta Government in 2021.