New Catholic elementary school on schedule for Nov. 1

According to Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education officials, the district’s new John Paul II Elementary School is on schedule for substantial completion by Nov. 1.

Registration for classes will then commence in January with the school slated to open in September 2018 for the 2018/19 school year; again, according to plan.

“Every day more and more gets done,” says MHCBE secretary treasurer Greg MacPherson. “We had an opportunity to tour our trustees through the facility in the beginning part of June, and we were able to show them where the layout of the school is inside. It has gotten to the point where you can visualize where the classrooms are, and understand some of the scales involved.”

“You get that sense of the open learning concept when you go through the school, and what it’s going to become,” adds superintendent Joe Colistro. “And I can tell you it is a very exciting and modern design, and I think the public will be very excited, once it is completed, to see that as well.”

The school grounds will also feature an advanced playground design and an outdoor skating rink for the winter months.

“We are very excited about the playground equipment we will make available for students and also the outdoor skating rink on site,” confirms MacPherson. “Those will add up to enhanced opportunities for our students throughout the winter and spring/summer months.”

Colistro says while the school will not be accepting regular students until the fall of 2018, MHCBE is considering bringing in pre-kindergarten students by January.

“We are looking at possibly opening our early learning program in January, but that is a plan in the works right now based on (substantial) completion,” he says.