About Us

Petite Riviere Elementary School (PRES) is located at 123 Wentzell Road, Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a small, rural elementary school located 1 km from the Atlantic coast in Lunenburg County. We have 110 students (Pre-primary to Grade 6), 23 staff members (including circuit) and 3 buses that take the students to and from the communities of: 

• Petite Riviere

• Green Bay

• Crousetown,

• Italy Cross,

• Mount Pleasant,

• New Cumberland,

• Crescent Beach,

• Bush Island, 

• West Dublin. 

• Broad Cove, 

• Cherry Hill,

• Vogler's Cove and 

• East Port Medway

We are fortunate to have an amazing environment which includes a basketball court, softball and soccer fields, several outdoor learning spaces and a regular-sized playground with play equipment. Our outdoor space is surrounded by beautiful trees and grassy areas to play tag and other fun games. At the bottom of the schoolyard, there is an osprey nest and you can see the beautiful Petite River. Following the Little River trail, there is a place to sit and observe the wildlife in the mindfulness space. 

A Little History 

On May 8, 1604, Samuel de Champlain anchored his ship, Dom de Dieu, in Green Bay. Champlain drew charts of the area, and on them, he named the river, Petite Riviere. In time, this became the name of the village. In 1632, some of the French colonists that landed in LaHave, settled in Petite Riviere. The next group of early settlers, made up of Scots-Irish, German, and British-American, arrived between the years 1767 and 1770. Descendants of these early settlers are still living in Petite Riviere and the nearby communities today. 

The first school house in the village was located across from what is now Fraser's House on the Italy Cross Road. This school was supported by fees paid by the families of the students.  The first public school was built in the 1860's. It was situated on the corner of the Broad Cove and Italy Cross Roads. It was a two-room, single-storey building. This school was open for 43 years and was later demolished in 1910. The new, public school, called Sea View School, was a two-storey building. The lower grades were taught on the ground floor, and the higher grades were upstairs. In 1961, this school was replaced by the present Petite Riviere Elementary School on Wentzell Road. 

Petite Riviere Elementary School 1961-present 

Petite Riviere Elementary School officially opened on November 1, 1961. It replaced Sea View School and the one-room schools in the communities of Crousetown, Broad Cove, Cherry Hill, and West Dublin. When the present Petite Riviere School was opened, Mrs. Jessie Crouse agreed to be principal from September 1961 until June 1975. The present school was built on a section of the Wentzell farm. For many years, the Grade 6 classes would hold archaeological digs in the present softball field where they found artifacts of old farm buildings. The school served all of the surrounding communities from Voglers Cove to Mount Pleasant, to Crousetown, West Dublin and the LaHave Islands. Many of the students from the LaHave Islands came by boat in the mornings to the government wharf at Bush Island to meet the school bus. 

When Petite Riviere Elementary School opened, there were 8 classrooms with 214 students. When Anne Wade became principal in 1975, there were approximately 180 students and that year there were only 7 classrooms. 

From 1986 until 1992, Elmer Garber was principal. Following Elmer Garber, Dave Patrick was principal until June 1996. Karen Jay-Moore was principal from September 1996 until June 2000. Next were Joyce Veinote Gates, Allan Turner, Joanne MacNeil, Janet Baxter, Leslie Jones and the present principal, Scott Rawding.  With new families moving into the area and former students returning to raise their children, the student population has begun to rise again from only 73 in 2004 to the current population of 99.  

Over the years PRES has experienced many changes. Gradually there were fewer classrooms and combined classes became a reality in the school. In 2018, following a province-wide mandate, a pre-primary class was welcomed in to the school.  We presently enjoy the positive effect of smaller class sizes. Students from Petite Riviere Elementary excel academically and in extracurricular activities. Our students have won and are continuing to win national and provincial awards in science, mathematics, writing and citizenship.