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Community consultations in progress for new elementary school in Clayton

School will have smaller classrooms, larger spaces for 'collaboration'
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A rendering of Clayton’s new elementary school

The design of Clayton’s new elementary school is anything but textbook.

Gone are the days of what you may think of as the traditional set up for a school. Features such as double-loaded hallways with doors leading to classrooms from both sides or windows situated over students’ left shoulders so that no shadows are cast by right-handed writers should be left behind, according to Thinkspace, the architecture firm designing Clayton’s new school.

According to Thinkspace’s website, the elementary school’s design incorporates natural and artificial lighting, outdoor learning spaces and informal “niches and nodes.”

The design is meant to accommodate different learning styles and instructional methodologies.

“Twenty-first century learning requires a twenty-first century design,” said architect Henk Kampman.

The design process is currently underway.

Based on Mar Jok Elementary in Kelowna, the new school’s architecture is meant to help the students and staff focus on communication and dynamic learning by providing shared spaces. With smaller classrooms, the building will have room for large spaces where classes can meet for collaborative projects.

The new school will be based on Mar Jok Elementary, pictured above.

The new elementary school will be built in Clayton Heights to address population growth and to relieve overcrowding issues at nearby schools.

An open house was held on Thursday, Jan. 26 at Katzie Elementary for community members to comment and ask questions.

The most common concern seemed to be the school’s location.According to Raymond Afan, Capital Project Manager for Surrey Schools, some attendees said they were concerned about an increase in traffic around the school, which will be located at 19374 to 19406 78 Ave.

“People ask ‘why are you building in an area where there hasn’t been development yet?’” said Afan. “The key word there is yet.”

As for traffic and parking concerns, Afan said, “Traffic is always a concern with new developments. But we need to develop to keep up with growth.”

Afan is optimistic about the school’s design and how its future students and staff will feel about working there.

“Because it has been developed in Kelowna, we have feedback from the students and staff and we can recommend and incorporate changes to make it suit Clayton,” he said.

The new school will be built to accommodate 525 students in Grade 1 to 7 and 80 full-day kindergarten students. The current target for an opening date is September 2019.

To learn more about the development, or to contribute to the consultation process, visit: placespeak.com/sd36capitalplan.