The Sooke School District is proposing a partnership with the Pacheedaht First Nation to create two new schools in Port Renfrew, where students now have to bus to Sooke after Grade 5.
School board chairman Ravi Parmar said a kindergarten-Grade 12 campus in the community would mean students wouldn’t have to ride a bus three or more hours a day to get to and from the nearest middle or secondary school in Sooke.
The district’s goal is to replace the existing K-Grade 5 school in Port Renfrew while the Pacheedaht would secure federal funds for a Grade 6-12 school. It’s one of the proposals put forward by the district in its capital-plan submission for 2022-23 to the provincial government.
“The campus would drastically improve access for Grade 5-12 students by offering education in their home community,” Parmar said.
The Sooke district — among the fastest-growing in the province — is also requesting seismic work for Sooke Elementary School and eyeing a replacement for Millstream Elementary School. The district also envisions an addition for Ruth King Elementary School and building-envelope work for Edward Milne Community School.
In addition, it’s requesting three more elementary schools in north Langford, south Colwood and Sooke.
The 60 school districts around B.C. submit their capital plans each year by June 30.
The Sooke district had a surge of 827 new students last fall for its biggest one-year jump in 30 years. With four per cent growth anticipated, the district instead went up seven per cent and reached approximately 12,000 students overall.
Superintendent Scott Stinson said the “accommodation pressures” in the district are more challenging each year. “Without adding new schools or expanding current schools, more students are forced into out-of-catchment schools and that is not ideal.”
He said the aim is to have students attend schools closer to where they live, while at the same time taking financial pressure off the school-bus system and reducing the cost of adding portable classrooms to some schools.
The district is opening two new schools in September on a shared Langford site on Constellation Avenue, in the Westhills area: Pexisen Elementary School, with room for 500 students, and Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School, which can hold 700.
It also recently received funding for a new 480-seat elementary school in south Langford, due for completion in the fall of 2025.
At Royal Bay Secondary, which opened in 2015 with a capacity for 900 students, rapidly increasing numbers led to a $30-million addition completed in 2020 that brought its capacity to 1,400.
jbell@timescolonist.com
