Barrie's loss is Innisfil's gain

Kempenfelt Bay School moving out of the city to a permanent location near Innisfil Recreation Centre

Kempenfelt Bay School is moving from Bryne Drive in Barrie to a permanent home in Innisfil.

After 17 years in Barrie, the Kempenfelt Bay School (KBS) is moving to a permanent home in Innisfil.

The non-profit private school for students from junior kindergarten to Grade 8 opened in downtown Barrie in 1999 and moved to its current location on Bryne Drive in 2001.

A new purchase deal is set to close at the end of this month, enabling the facility to move to a permanent home at Innisfil Beach Road east of Yonge Street - near the Innisfil Recreation Centre, Town Hall and municipal operations centre, South Simcoe Police station and InnPower.

Following a two year search for a property and 18 months of negotiations and studies, the school was able to "check off a multitude of the right boxes," said Dave Moore of RE/MAX Chay Realty Inc.

The new school building is expected to open in the Fall of 2017.

Initially, it will include students from Junior Kindergarten through to Grade 8 in 14 classrooms, but there are plans to grow.

A future expansion is already planned to add high school grades at KBS for the first time.