Campus upgrades being planned
Wolfville’s Landmark East receives 350K donation from Sobey Foundation
Landmark East is a transformative school in line for an exciting transformation.
The independent boarding and day school for students with learning differences recently received a $ 350,000 donation from The Sobey Foundation. The money was awarded in support of a proposed $2.8 million capital project that would see a new gymnasium, dining hall, cafeteria, kitchen and maker’s space built at the Wolfville-based school.
“These will be state of the art facilities. It will be about a 16,000-square foot building and it will also give us a chance to redesign our campus so that we have a centre court garden,” said Landmark East School Headmaster Peter Coll.
The build would make way for the addition of up to 115 to 120 new students, and create opportunities for new programming at The individuals from left to right are as follows: Building on Success capital campaign chairman Henry Hicks, Olivia Sobey, Marsha Sobey, Landmark East School Headmaster Peter Coll, Jim Sotvedt, Landmark East Association Board Chair.
the school.
“It will allow us to add another 12 to 15 classrooms,” said Coll.
“What that puts in place is the
options for us to offer more varied high school programming, so we can offer those specialty courses to our kids going on to university
that we normally would have low subscription in.”
Marsha Sobey, a former teacher at Landmark East, was instru- mental in securing the funding from The Sobey Foundation.
“She really believes in what we do, especially as a former teacher,” said Coll.
“We program individually for students according to their needs.”
Programming tailored to the specific needs of each learner, coupled with the promise of small class sizes, brings students from throughout the world to Landmark East, which had 69 students enrolled in May.
“Kids who struggle tend to get lost in (big) classes, or they tend to hide,” said Coll.
“Kids come here because they are unable to find what they need in mainstream education.”
The fundraising campaign for the proposed expansion project was launched two years ago. Coll is looking forward to the day Landmark East sees an influx of new students as a result of the build.
“It’s absolutely inspiring to work with these kids and look at the change that happens in them.”