Students, parents and staff of Lord Nelson Elementary joined VSB's Official Trustee, the Minister of Education, local MLAs and officials from the City of Vancouver to break ground on a replacement school for the Grandview-Woodlands neighbourhood. Construction now begins on the new Lord Nelson Elementary to seismically replace the school.

The $24.4 million project includes replacing the existing Lord Nelson Elementary school with a state-of-the-art building on the same site. The new three-storey school will have a Neighbourhood Learning Centre and a StrongStart program. In addition, the City of Vancouver is providing $6.4 million of the cost of the new school to build a 69-space childcare centre for those aged four and under on the third floor. 

At the official groundbreaking, students talked about how they were happy to be consulted by VSB about what they wanted in their new school. Their favourite feature will be the giant slide allowing them to slide out of the school from the second floor.

"It's wonderful to see construction begin on Lord Nelson Elementary to build a replacement school, a great example of how we are pushing forward with seismic mitigation work to ensure our students have safe and welcoming environments to focus on learning," said Official Trustee Dianne Turner. "With this innovative partnership, the Grandview-Woodlands community will not only have a new, seismically safe school but also an expanded child care centre that will benefit families in the area."

Students will remain in the existing school until the new school is built. The old school will then be demolished. The new school is expected to be ready in the fall of 2018.

Click on the image below to visit Flickr Album.