Alpha Secondary and Nelson Elementary are in neighbourhoods that have been growing rapidly and the schools have just been approved for additions.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care announced that Alpha Secondary will get a 12-classroom prefabricated addition, which will increase student seats by 300 at the school. While Nelson Elementary has been approved for a four-classroom prefabricated addition - adding 100 new seats.
Bill Brassington is the Chair of the Burnaby Board of Education:
Burnaby is one of BC's fast-growing cities - especially in the Brentwood and Metrotown neighbourhoods. Every family that makes Burnaby their home has the right to send their children to school. These additions at Alpha Secondary and Nelson Elementary will help us to meet enrolment demand and give students the classroom learning environments and space they need to thrive."
The prefabricated additions are part of the Ministry's strategy to expand schools more quickly. Alpha Secondary is getting a provincial investment of $12 million, with $4 million for Nelson Elementary.
Both projects will move into the design development stage.
Alpha Secondary is located in the Brentwood North Zone where enrolment projections for the area - as outlined in the District's Long-Range Facilities Plan - predict rapid growth of more than 19% over the next ten years. The school surpassed its operating capacity in 2022.
Nelson Elementary is located in the Kingsway South Zone, where the area is predicted to have a 17.5% increase in the number of students over the next ten years. A large amount of the population growth comes from building in the Metrotown town centre. The Long-Range Facilities Plan forecast that Nelson Elementary would absorb some of the student population growth from development in the area. The elementary school also surpassed its operating capacity in 2022.
Read the Burnaby School District's Long-Range Facilities Plan here. It lays out a roadmap of the Board's plans for buildings, including strategies to address the pressure placed on school buildings by enrolment growth.
