Reston Schools

The community of Reston has a long history of educating its young people to help them find their place in the world. Uncountable pupils have gone through the doors of the five school buildings along with overflow spots when needed.   

1893 A school was established on the east side of 3rd street where the Reston District Library sits today.  The railway track had been completed to Reston the year before and people were flooding in from the east to take up homesteads and work in the town and on the railway. There had been one room schools at surrounding districts including the settlement due north called Reston.  This name was given to the new location and school with teacher Viva Giles beginning in the spring of 1893.  The building was later used as church, wagonmaking and repairs, hairdressing, library and ceramics shop until it was demolished in 1992.   

1905 A 4 room brick veneer building was built where Hometown Villas is located today.  They were a very forward thinking school board as only 2 rooms needed to be used in 1905.  The following year, three rooms were needed and all 4 were in use by 1910.  This picture postcard was likely taken about this time. The tower and bell were a landmark to anyone coming into town.  The camera would have been pointed north to the open prairie.  

The top left of the town scene from the Prairie Towns website shows the school on the far northwest corner of Reston.  

1918 The school became extremely crowded and some students were moved to the former Methodist Church.  This arrangement continued for the next 8 years as it was cheaper to rent rather than build due to a postwar building boom.The church/school/gym was later remodeled to become a residence and was home to Fred and Alice Paul for many years.  Thanks to a "For Sale" listing on Facebook by granddaughter Whitney, this home is pictured right. 

1926 Arthur Bushby was given a contract to build a new 2 room building of red brick to the northwest of the first one.  His bid for $1145 was accepted and it became known as the High School. The picture below is from a collection taken by the school inspectors in the 30's or 40's that can be found at Manitoba Archives.    

1941 This school closed due to a slump in school aged children. Both schools are pictured below from about this same time.  

1959 - Both schools were used and overflow was accommodated in the Legion Hall.  Huts were brought in as well.

Thanks to Shirley Bulloch for this photo of the high school from her family collection. 

1961 - Reston Collegiate Institute was built on Reg Berry’s pasture across from his home along #2 highway.  Additions and renovations happened in 1965 and 1985.  The drawings below were copied from school yearbooks.  The first one was from 1964-65 and is notable for the absence of the higher roofline for the gym. The second drawing was in the Centennial 1970 Grade 1 - 8 edition of the yearbook.   

Photo from inside front cover of 1971-1972 RCI yearbook

1964 - The roof of the old two room high school caught fire which resulted in only slight damage due to quick work by the fire brigade.  It was guessed the fire started in the eaves by a bird carrying a string from burning garbage.  Two days holidays was the result for the students. 

1964 - Consolidation brought about the closure of many rural schools and those students were bussed to Reston.  Smaller schools continued to close and the students joined Reston for the rest of that decade right up to Pipestone closing in 1978. Fort La Bosse took over from the local Reston School Board beginning in 1959, starting with high school classes.  

1967 - RES was built and in later in 1986 an addition to the west included a Science lab and stage. Debentures were raised to a total of $201,000 and a nine academic classroom and gym space were constructed after a favourable community vote in February of 1966.  

1968 - Demolition of the two old schools occurred.  Tyndall stone from the front where Reston S. D. No 141 was carved was saved along with the bell from the 4 room elementary school and placed in front of RES. The 4 room school had the top story removed before it was moved to Mair, Saskatchewan.  

2006 - Discussions began about amalgamation of the two Reston schools. This began after a proposed renovation of the RES building was going to be far over budget and enrollment was steadily decreasing.  It was proposed that constructing a 6 classroom wing on RCI would cost less. After a community vote in favour of amalgamating, the addition wing was added to the RCI building with 7447 square feet consisting of 4 classrooms and a multipurpose room with groundbreaking in June of 2010.  Renovations to the RCI office area, resource and staff spaces were also part of the project. Kindergarten to Grade 12 came together under one roof in September of 2011.