HALIFAX -- The Nova Scotia government says it will spend $28.5 million to purchase and renovate a high school in the Halifax area for the province's Acadian school board.

Education Minister Zach Churchill says the acquisition of Newbridge Academy in Dartmouth will help meet the demand for French first-language education in the region.

He says it should also reduce enrolment pressures at other schools administered by the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial.

The renovation work is expected to be completed in time for the Newbridge Academy to welcome about 900 students next September.

The province also promised another school for the board when it rolled out its five-year school capital plan in 2018.

The French-language board serves about 6,100 students in 28 schools across the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2019.