The Pembina Hills School Division, (formerly known as Pembina Hills Regional Division No. 7 and Pembina Hills Public Schools) is a school division headquartered in Barrhead, Alberta. The division, with 16 schools having a total of about 3,700 students as of 2021, provides public education to the following central Alberta communities: the towns of Barrhead, Swan Hills, and Westlock, and the Village of Clyde, as well as the counties of Barrhead, Westlock, and Woodlands County. Sections of Big Lakes County and Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124 to the southeast and south are also in this school district.

History

The division was created on January 1, 1995 from the County of Barrhead No. 11 school district, Swan Hills School District No. 5109, and Westlock School Division No. 37, which combined into a single school district. It was established during a wave of school board amalgamations in Alberta, during the Progressive Conservative government of Ralph Klein. Pembina Hills School Division was the result of a voluntary merger of Westlock School Division No. 37, the educational component of the County of Barrhead No. 11 and Swan Hills School District No. 5109. Prior to that union, the Barrhead and Westlock areas had previously been part of a regional school division, Pembina School Division No. 37, which was split in 1947 into the Westlock and Barrhead School Divisions. In 1959, the Municipal District of Barrhead consolidated with the school district to form a county. The first school district in Swan Hills (Oil Hills School District No. 5109) was not formed until 1959.

Schools

Two schools are for Hutterites and two are "outreach" schools.