After a year-and-a-half of construction, the new addition at Coyote Creek Elementary is finally open for students and staff.
Two Grade 6 and two Grade 3-4 classes have already moved into the school's four new classrooms, bringing its total number of classrooms to 30. The Ministry of Education provided $6.1 million for the space, bringing students out of portables and back into classrooms.
"After much anticipation, we are thrilled to open this four-classroom addition at Coyote Creek Elementary," said Surrey Board of Education Chair Laurie Larsen. "Not only are we eliminating portables and bringing four classes back into the school, we are also investing in future growth for this community."
"We're excited to say goodbye to portables and have our entire community together," said principal Jennifer Jock. "It's a really beautiful, bright space, and it's exciting to go in and see them all at work, enjoying the space."
The addition also features three new learning support teacher rooms, an open common space, large windows with natural light, built-in projectors, motion-activated lighting and scenic views to the west.
Jock said the students have been looking forward to the addition after watching it being built for 18 months, noting it was delayed, partly because of the pandemic.
"It was such an interesting project to watch, there were always kids outside seeing the progress," she said. "The kids were extremely eager to move in.
"We put a hopscotch in the hallway a year-and-a-half ago that leads to the new wing - it started as a hopscotch to nowhere, but now it's the entry point to this fabulous new space."
Coyote Creek's addition is this school year's latest completed capital project, following the openings of Edgewood Elementary in January and Douglas Elementary in November. In what has so far been a banner year for district projects, Surrey Schools is also looking forward the upcoming opening of Maddaugh Elementary and an eight-classroom addition at Sullivan Elementary.
