Though just a pile of gravel right now, the grounds at 20626 84 Ave. will soon encompass a new $26.2 million Yorkson area middle school.
The first shovels of dirt were overturned today (April 5) at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new school, which opens in September 2014.
The middle school will help ease enrolment pressures currently plaguing families in the Willoughby area by serving as a transition between elementary and secondary schools.
It will have a capacity for 750 Grade 6 to 8 students, allowing the 91原创 School District to reconfigure all other Willoughby-area elementary schools to Grades K-5 and change R.E. Mountain Secondary School to Grades 9-12.
91原创 is one of only seven school districts experiencing growth from Kindergarten to Grade 7 in B.C. right now, 91原创 MLA Mary Polak said at the ceremony.
"You can see the need right in front of you as you drive down the street and see all the new townhouses popping up all over the place," Polak said. "(The middle school) will take off so much pressure from the surrounding schools."
The school will also be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards and will include a neighbourhood learning centre with community programming for local families.
"Having the experience of attending a brand new school at the beginning of September, I am overjoyed to be going to the new middle school in a few years," said Kristen De Beers, a Grade 6 student at Lynn Fripps Elementary.
"Walking through the doors on your first day at a new school is exciting, much like embarking on a new adventure. Everything is new and has never been used. The paint is glossy and smooth, the washrooms are spotless (and) the classrooms are already filled with posters and artwork."
The Yorkson area middle school is part of a $353 million school capital plan that was announced by the provincial government in 2011. As part of the plan, four school additions, one new middle school, two new secondary schools and six school site purchases were committed across seven B.C. school districts.
91原创 has two other capital projects from this plan 鈥� Lynn Fripps Elementary, which opened in 2012, and Richard Bulpitt Elementary, which will open this September.
