Sod turning for new school creates excitement in Stewart Valley
A modern school building designed for 21st century learning is set to be constructed in Stewart Valley to replace the structure destroyed in a fire a year ago.
Students, parents and community members learned more about the new building when the design was revealed as part of a sod turning ceremony in the village, Nov. 1.
The afternoon’s proceedings started at the R.M. of Saskatchewan Landing No. 167 fire hall, where design renderings for the new school building were displayed and a presentation was made by Leeann Croft, the principal architect at 1080 Architecture, Planning + Interiors.
Thereafter a sod turning ceremony with speeches by representatives from the Chinook School Division and the community took place at the school site.
“It’s an exciting day for the board, for the community, for the architects, for everyone involved,” Chinook Board of Education Chair Kimberly Pridmore said afterwards. “It feels like it’s been a long time coming. Of course, the fire was several months ago, and kids have been going to school in different places. They’re all just excited to know that the building is going to take place soon.”
The previous school building and community centre was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning on Aug. 26, 2022.
The Chinook Board of Education approved the rebuilding of the school in January 2023 and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education authorized the rebuild with insurance proceeds in March 2023.
Thereafter the Chinook School Division completed tender procedures that resulted in the appointment of two Regina companies. The project team for full design services is 1080 Architecture, Planning + Interiors and construction management services are provided by Quorex Construction Management Services Ltd.
“The full project is not tendered yet,” Croft said. “So we don’t have that final price, but we have a budget we’re working towards.”
She indicated that initial construction activity on the school site is scheduled to start during the latter half of November and then getting fully under way in December. The new building is set to be completed during the fall of 2024, but it will not be ready for the start of the 202425 school year.
“A lot of this has to do with insurance,” she noted. “It’s a little bit of a step-by-step process and it’s led to a little bit of uncertainty on our end, but we are proceeding forward based on the information we have with insurance. … The big message is we want to do this right. We want to make sure that every decision is well thought through.”
The building design includes four classrooms, a multi-purpose area that provides space for a learning commons
and a library area, an outdoor classroom, a gymnasium with a mezzanine and an adjoining kitchen.
“The school is designed with 21st century learning principles throughout it,” Croft explained. “It means that we’re thinking of every space in the building as a learning space. So there’s really not a corridor in the building, where everything is designed as a learning space or a teaching space.”
Natural light was prioritized as a key design element. There is a lot of windows throughout the building and some higher-level windows in the gymnasium.
“You get that nice natural light, which makes it a great space to be, and will be good for both learning spaces, sports and community events as well,” she said.
The different areas and spaces within the building have been designed to accommodate multiple learning styles and needs in a flexible manner.
“That’s something else that we really look at when we design schools,” she said. “How do we have spaces that are focused spaces? How do we have areas that are more for project-based learning or group space? So throughout the learning commons you’ll see areas for presentation, areas for collaboration and areas for focus as well.”
The feedback from a community meeting held in June resulted in the inclusion of a mezzanine as an extra space on top of the bathrooms and change rooms to provide a special public viewing area in the gymnasium.
“One of the biggest things that came up was space for the community to be able to watch kids in a safe way,” she said. “And because we weren’t able to make the gym bigger through the insurance claim, we found this bonus space over top of the change rooms to have that viewing area.”
According to Croft the biggest challenge from a design point of view has
been the size of the school building.
“It’s a really small building,” she said. “So to have a space where you’ve got a large volume of the gym and then only four classrooms to sort of balance it with. The massing was something we played with quite a bit to get the right form so that we had a balance for the tall gymnasium space and then the classroom space, which is naturally a lower area.”
The Stinger Strong community group has raised close to $100,000 for the new facility. This made it possible to incorporate a larger kitchen into the building design.
It will be about 30 per cent bigger than the kitchen in the previous building.
The speakers during the sod turning ceremony emphasized the important role of the facility to the well-being of the community.
R.M. of Saskatchewan Landing No. 167 Reeve Darwin Johnsgaard said the school and community centre are the lifeblood of the community.
“On behalf of the community, I’d like to thank the Chinook School Division for making the decision to go forward and believing in us as a viable place to keep a school,” he said.
“There is a lot of concern throughout the community with all the amalgamations going on these days that we wouldn’t see a new school to replace the old one of 58 years. I’d like to thank the community as well for standing strong and showing what overwhelming support there is to replace our loss.”
Patricia Perrin, the chair of the Stewart Valley School Community Council, said students have been resilient after experiencing the loss of their school.
“We are excited to be a part of this new chapter of the Stewart Valley School and supporting the new classrooms to meet educational needs,” she mentioned. “This community is exceptional and soon will be reunited under one roof.”
Stewart Valley School Principal Kimberlee Schlageter said the sod turning is a symbol of hope and a meaningful step towards the soon-to-be-reborn school.
“Our students and staff have been away from our home in Stewart Valley for over a year now,” she noted.
“With that has came many new opportunities, new friendships, new learnings, and more. And we are extremely grateful for each of these things, but I believe we will be even more grateful to walk through the front doors of our new school . ... I feel so fortunate to be part of this school as we embark on this journey towards building a new Stinger home. And I can’t wait to be all together and shout Stinger Strong!”