The director of education for Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School Division is excited about the progress taking place on the development and construction of a new school on South Hill.
The project manager for the proposed joint-use school has completed several significant activities during the past couple of months, a report to the division’s board of education explained. His focus has included the creation of an expression of interest for the Westheath site and development of virtual engagement sessions with school communities and the public
Other activities have also occurred with the acquisition of the site and community engagement, including the finalization of the architectural contract and evaluating all expressions of interest that were submitted.
The architectural firm that is looking after the building’s design has also supported the engagement process, which has allowed education director Sean Chase to review some of the most updated information.
For example, surveys went to teachers of the four affected elementary schools — Empire, St. Mary, Sacred Heart, and Westmount — that asked them questions such as what they liked about their current location and their hopes, dreams and vision for the future school.
A similar survey went to parents of students at those schools.
“We were quite pleased with the response rate. We know that parents are heavily engaged — and some of them quite exhausted — from the work they’re doing to support their children at home with distance learning,” Chase said.
Middle-years students also had the opportunity to reply to a similar online survey, while the division asked teachers to work with younger students in a guided process to see what they thought of the new school. Teachers then compiled the comments from the younger kids, while older students created physical models of how they wanted the school to look or what they wanted to see in it.
The division hopes to have the information put together by late June and then produced in a package for the public. Division administration is beginning to work on that package now.
“I received from them all sorts of wonderful videos of little ones who had used Lego or Plasticine (putty-like clay) or all sorts of household materials to build models of what they think the new school should look like,” Chase continued. “So (I’m) really excited about that because it shows the kids’ creativity. You couldn’t help but have a huge smile on your face to see what they’re thinking.”
It’s also exciting that a student in Grade 1 who submitted an idea by video could walk into the new building in a few years and see that suggestion implemented, he remarked. That would be a powerful moment. Meanwhile, division administration is excited that that work has been ongoing and that the consultant group designed a great process to ensure the architectural design of the building could reflect the community’s desires.
The next step is to create and send out a request for proposal (RFP) to land developers who would be interested in developing the Westheath property. Both Holy Trinity and partner Prairie South School Division want to find a company that would purchase the 10 acres of land and develop it while adjusting the original plans that the City of Moose Jaw initially laid out for it.
The next Holy Trinity board meeting is June 15.
