Granite Ridge: Students offer tours of new school

Feb 05, 2014

Judging by the enthusiasm of the students offering visitors tours of the Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake on January 29, it looks as though both staff and students have taken a liking to their new home and home of the newly named Granite Ridge Gryphons.

Grade ten students Aadan Kempe and Riley Teal took me on a tour of the new building, which boasts a three-storey main foyer atrium; huge glass windows in every classroom; an expansive gym with freshly painted logos of the Gryphon team name; a large cafeteria equipped with a huge stage; plus a brand new library on the main floor.

Aadan and Randy pointed out some of the students' favorite hangouts, like the Gryphons' Grotto located in a smaller room on the main floor. They each are fans of their new school for different reasons. Riley, who plays a lot of sports, said he is especially pleased with the school new gym and Aadan said he was fond of the fact that there are white boards in every classroom.

Asked how they enjoy having younger students around, Aadan said it's nice because he knows many of them. The younger students use different entrances into the building so their paths don't often cross with the older students.

Staff also seem to be settling in to their new digs. Grade 8 teacher Julie Schall was busy in her class after hours and said she was pleased with her spacious new classroom. “I love the space and the students enjoy it as well and love the fact that they can rearrange their desks when they are working in groups. They also seem really pleased to be a part of something bigger and also to have the opportunity to volunteer to help out in the kindergarten classes. Because of the presence of the younger students in the school the older students seem to be much more aware of the impact that their actions are having on others,” Schall said.

I met two women also on a tour, one of whom was Cheryl Allen, chair of the school council at GREC, who has a daughter in grade 12 at the school. “I love all of the light, the brightness and the colours and the great new gym,” she said when I met her on the third floor. Allen was part of the PARC and design committee for GREC and she said that seeing the new school finished and being used was a great opportunity to see the whole process come together.

School Principal Heather Highet said she was pleased with all the space available to both students and staff. “We love it and the nice thing is that not only are all of the new classrooms great teaching spaces but they are also a lot of creative learning spaces that can be used by students and teachers throughout the building." She said the new gym is a special bonus especially for kindergarten to grade 8 students, who now have a chance to use the gym every day. “A huge vinyl curtain can come down, dividing the gym in two so that both the elementary and older students can be using the gym at the same time.”

Highet said there a few finishing touches that still need doing, like repairing a few cracked windows that were damaged during construction, and putting a final coat of varnish on the gym floor, which will happen over the March break.

Yet to be operational are the water fountains. Culligan water coolers are presently being used by staff and students as they await the water filtration system being up and running. Highet assured me that the water has been tested and is fine and that is just a matter of the system needing to cycle through a number of times before it becomes operational, likely this month. Highet said the new cafeteria and stage will probably be available for public use by next fall.

Asked if she thinks the demolition of the old school will have any negative effects on the day-to-day operations at the new school, Highet said that she is not expecting any disruptions. The demolition will begin on the March break at the south end of the old school.