Staff at New Blanche E. Williams Public School Welcome 600 Students for First Day

Tuesday, Sep 08, 2026

Article content originally published in The Expositor on September 8, 2026 by Michelle Ruby.

​​Lucy Ruth Ziriro and her son Levi wait outside the new Blanche E. Williams Public School in Brantford where Levi started Grade 6 on September 8.

​​Lucy Ruth Ziriro and her son Levi wait outside the new Blanche E. Williams Public School in Brantford where Levi started Grade 6 on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Photo by Michelle Ruby /Brantford Expositor

Back to the classroom on Tuesday was extra momentous for the first group of students to walk through the doors of Blanche E. Williams Public School.

Teachers with clipboards stood outside the brand-new $34-million school at Shellard’s Lane and Strickland Avenue in Brantford where they corralled more than 600 students with first day jitters.

“There’s a lot of nervous excitement,” said Robyn Mullings, principal at Blanche E. Williams. “But it will only take a few days for everyone to adjust when they see some familiar faces.”

“It’s incredibly exciting. This is an energy you don’t feel very often. It’s an opportunity many people don’t have – to write the initial pages of what the legacy of this school is going to be.”

The name of the school honours Williams, a Brantford woman who helped break down racial barriers in education 150 years ago.

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