Tuesday, April 16, 2019 ~ COLWOOD
~ by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
From day one in September 2015, Royal Bay Secondary classrooms have been full to capacity. Four years later, the situation is moving ahead with construction of 600 additional seats.
Combined with the original 800 seats, there will be 1,400 in the expanded high school, taking into account further enrollment growth. That’s 21 more classrooms. There will also be a third gymnasium with indoor sport turf that the community can also use as a neighbourhood learning centre (NLC) which can help generate revenue for the school district. All of that targeted for completion by September 2020.
Presently there are nearly 1,000 students at Royal Bay, where over 10 portable classrooms are in use to accommodate the overflow. More portables will be brought to the school yard for September 2019.
Construction began in January 2019, with better weather awaited for the official public celebration. The construction price tag for school expansion is $29.9 million. The Ministry of Education is providing $27.3 million, while the Sooke School District 62 (SD62) is contributing $2.6 million.
Construction is underway, as celebrated by about 50 school administrators and community leaders on site at Royal Bay today. In the learning commons area this morning, Minister of Education Rob Fleming addressed the crowd, as did SD62 Chair Ravi Parmar and MLA for the area, Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt-Metchosin).
Attending from SD62 were Superintendent Scott Stinson, Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull, Associate Superintendents Paul Block and Stephanie Hedley-Smith, SD62 Board Vice-Chair Dianna Seaton, and Trustees Bob Beckett and Margot Swinburnson. Attending from Colwood were Councillors Michael Baxter, Cynthia Day, and Doug Kobayashi. Attending from Langford were Mayor Stew Young and Councillor Lanny Seaton. The school was represented by Principal Windy Beadall and Vice-Principal Mike Bobbitt. Beecher Bay Chief Russ Chipps was in attendance, as was Royal Roads University’s Director of Business Development Dale Gann.
“Students deserve the best educational experience possible, no matter where they live,” said Minister Fleming. “The expansion at this school will ensure students will be learning in modern, engaging classrooms, so they can fully benefit from our new curriculum.”
Between Langford, Colwood and Sooke, SD62 on the west shore is seeing the highest student population growth of any school district on Vancouver Island, though other island areas are seeing growth increases as well, said Fleming. On the mainland the fastest growing areas include Surrey, Langley and Abbotsford.
“Families in our growing community expected that their new secondary school would accommodate their children inside the school,” said Dean. “It’s encouraging to see work underway at Royal Bay and for students to see the progress to getting out of portables and back into classrooms for the 2020-21 school year.”
“Being able to transition students out of the portables and into a large inclusive school for 1,400 students is exactly the type of learning space we envision for SD62 students and staff,” said Chair Parmar. He said the Royal Bay portables will be relocated to other schools in the district for Fall 2020.
Minister Fleming remarked how in just three academic years that Royal Bay Secondary has developed its own culture and presence in the spectrum of schools and the broader community.
Fleming said the Horgan government is meeting the appropriate facility growth for growing populations is good governance. “The previous government was penny wise, pound foolish,” Fleming told West Shore Voice News. “They built a brand new school (opening in 2015) but under-built.”
Growth projections were evident on the west shore and well confirmed by the Sooke School District 62 (SD62) by the time construction of both Royal Bay Secondary (in Colwood) and Belmont Secondary (in Langford) were underway. Those two schools both opened at full capacity in Fall 2015.
Fleming said that appropriate school growth will help keep from portables having to be added to schools in BC.
Representing the student body, Grade 10 student Ryker White said at the podium: “This is great for our school. We’ve been fragmented with students in portables, so it will be great to have everyone under one roof enjoying the modern spaces and classrooms that we’re fortunate to have in a new school.
The Government of British Columbia is committed to creating additional student spaces in growing communities throughout the province. Since September 2017, the Province has approved more than $1 billion for new and expanded schools, and land purchases for future schools. This includes nearly $375 million for 6,350 new student seats.
There is more to come, as Budget 2019 provides a record $2.7 billion for school capital projects to give B.C. students the best educational experience possible.
The Ministry of Education says that government is working to meet the need for student spaces on the west shore by having approved $61.4 million for the following investments:
- Addition at Royal Bay Secondary School – $29.9 million
- Land purchase for future schools in West Langford (middle and elementary) – $24.9 million
- Land purchase for a future school in Skirt Mountain (elementary) – $6.6 million
LINKS:
Sooke School District 62 | Current major school capital projects in BC