The province says it’s adding more classrooms in Surrey as part of its plan to expand schools quickly.
In an announcement Wednesday, the Ministry of Education and Child Care says families in Surrey will have more than 900 more elementary seats in their community.
Minister Rachna Singh says the ministry is committed in investing in Surrey and is looking at innovative, fast-tracked solutions to do so.
“Over the last seven years, we’ve built and opened over 8,200 new student spaces with nearly 6,800 more on the way. There is more work to do, but we are determined to continue delivering more for families in Surrey,” she said in a release Wednesday.
Fourteen classroom additions that will add 340 seats and a space for child care are coming to Forsyth Road Elementary, and 14 classroom prefabricated additions that will house 350 new seats are coming to George Greenaway Elementary School through a new provincial investment of $21 million, according to the ministry.
“The innovative use of prefabricated construction means the addition at George Greenaway Elementary will be built much quicker than a traditional build, and is expected to be ready in fall 2025,” said the ministry.
“With sustainable and energy-efficient designs, the addition at Forsyth Road Elementary aligns with the Province’s CleanBC targets and meets B.C.’s enhanced energy requirements.”
The province says the additions to Forsyth Road Elementary are expected to be ready in 2028.
The province says the City Central Learning Centre will be converted into a new elementary school in Surrey’s City Centre neighbourhood creating 225 elementary seats through a partnership between B.C. and the school district.
“These new projects are part of the government’s ongoing work to deliver new and expanded schools in Surrey over the past seven years,” the province said. “At the City Central Learning Centre, a $635,000 provincial investment, along with a $450,000 investment by the school district, will create these new seats by fall 2025.”
In the last few months, 800 new seats at Fleetwood Park Secondary, and prefabricated additions for Old Yale Road Elementary, Latimer Road Elementary, William Watson Elementary and Martha Currie Elementary were announced. Moreover, construction is underway at the new Snokomish Elementary and Ta’talu Elementary and additions to Semiahmoo Trail Elementary and South Meridian Elementary.
The ministry says these projects will create more than 3,500 student spaces.
“Investments like these three are what our district needs to help keep pace with our rapidly growing student enrolment,” said Laurie Larsen, chair of the Surrey Board of Education, in a release.
“We are committed to continuing to work with the province to ensure that families who choose Surrey as their home are able to attend their neighbourhood schools, and students and staff have the best environments possible to learn and work in.”
The province says since they have approved more than $5 billion for new schools since September 2017, resulting in “37,000 new student spaces and more than 38,000 seismically safer seats at B.C. schools.”