Workers are busy putting the finishing touches on the expansion of the Elmvale District High School.

“I think we have grown by eighty per cent, so it’s much bigger and better,” said the school’s Principal Dan MacDonald on Wednesday.

Construction should be finished by early January.  This expansion will help the high school accommodate Grade seven and eight students from the nearby elementary school next year.

“Close to six hundred kids to start,” says MacDonald. “Then we expect the school will be growing from there.”

The $11.3 million project includes new classrooms, a double gymnasium and hybrid cafeteria-auditorium, along with renovations to the existing building.

Students are not allowed into the construction zone but they like what they can see through the windows.

“I hear it’s going to be one of the nicest gyms in Simcoe County, and honestly I can’t wait to get in there,” says grade ten student Zach Reid.

The auditorium and the school's commercial kitchen were designed with community use in mind. More than 200 thousand dollars was raised locally for the project.