A new school in south Kitchener will pay tribute to a local trailblazer.

The Waterloo Region District School Board says its new school at Seabrook and Amand drives will be named Janet Metcalfe Public School.

Metcalfe became the first public school kindergarten teacher in Canada in 1882, when she took over a class at what is now known as Suddaby Public School.

School board officials say Metcalfe made a “crucial, though hitherto overlooked contribution to education” locally and nationally.

The name was chosen from a list of dozens of suggestions submitted by members of the public.

One suggestion was to name the school after inventor and scientist Nikola Tesla. A petition to name the school after Tesla received thousands of signatures. A school board committee decided against naming the school after Tesla, citing his lack of any specific connection to Waterloo Region.

Other names considered as finalists alongside Metcalfe included Levi Carroll public school, for one of the first black men to live in the region, and Huron Trail Public School.

The school, which will house students from junior kindergarten to Grade 8, is scheduled to open next September.

Its exact boundaries have yet to be determined, but will encompass areas where kids are currently sent to Jean Steckle, Laurentian, Queen Elizabeth and Southridge public schools.