As declining enrolment threatens school closures in neigbouring Vancouver, 195 new student spaces are being created on top of Burnaby Mountain to meet anticipated growth.
Politicians and school officials were at University Highlands Elementary School Monday to announce the construction of a $3.9-million two-storey addition to the school, scheduled for completion in January 2018.
The school will get seven new elementary classrooms and one new kindergarten classroom, complete with adjoining washroom.
The province will contribute $2.75 million towards the project, while SFU Community Trust will kick in $750,000.
The SFU Childcare Society, meanwhile, will chip in $400,000 towards the development of 24 new before-school and afterschool care spaces.
The expansion is good news, according to University Highlands parent advisory council chair Huyen Mori – especially given that SFU Community Trust hopes to expand the UniverCity community by 4,000-5,000 people over the next five years.
“There’s a large number of new, young families moving up to the mountain,” Mori told the NOW, “and so this expansion will give that better opportunity for everybody to have easy access to school, afterschool care, all within walking distance. That’s what we want up here, the community feel.”
There is currently no afterschool care at the school, Mori said, and children have to be picked up and brought to a centre on the west side of campus.
When it’s complete, the larger University Highlands Elementary will have 60 kindergarten and 425 elementary student spaces.
The district has hired Bingham Hill Architects to design the expansion, according to a June 21 report.
"University Highlands Elementary is firmly established as the hub of the UniverCity community,” stated school board chair Ron Burton in a press release about Monday’s announcement. “We appreciate the support of our project partners who share our vision to ensure that as the community grows, we can continue to provide a safe, comfortable, quality learning environment for its families."