ROCKY VIEW COUNTY— Students of Westbrook School started the school year in a brand new facility on Tuesday (Sept. 8).
Westbrook School principal Christine Parker said it was exciting to see the new school open for students. The new school year marks her 10th anniversary at Westbrook making the opening of the brand new facility all the more exciting.
“It’s quite an honour to have this opportunity to be in this community for that amount of time,” Parker said.
Teachers were able to move into the facility in late August, Parker said, and it was a “little bit of a crunch” getting the school ready for students.
To accommodate the logistical challenges of reopening the new school, the Rocky View Schools board of trustees approved a staggered re-entry on Tuesday (Sept. 8) and Wednesday (Sept. 9) with the first full day of classes beginning on Thursday (Sept. 10).
“We’re really starting to get into the flow,” Parker said.
The old Westbrook School building was built in 1953, she said, and it is exciting to now have the newest school in Rocky View.
Typically about 150 students attend Westbrook School, she said, but at times it has seen around 180 students in the hallways.
It is amazing to be in the new space, Parker said with a laugh, but it can be surreal standing at the bus drop-off zone where the old school once stood.
“There is no footprint of the old school it is totally gone,” Parker said. “It’s been reclaimed as a space that we’re using.”
It was hard to say goodbye to the old space, Parker said, adding that she saved a few special items including the coat hooks from the original staff room.
“The hooks themselves, you can tell, they're designed differently, they’re bigger and more solid,” Parker said.
Parker added she is proud to work for a school division that recognized the need for a new school in a community experiencing smaller growth in comparison to other areas of the region.
“I know the needs are high,” Parker said. “I really think it is amazing that Rocky View spent the time to look at alternative ways to build a school and do the funding from Rocky View with some assistance from the Province.”
She added Friends of Westbrook were able to secure a $200,000 matching grant to support increasing the size of the gym.
The transition has been interesting, Parker said, because not only are students and staff getting oriented in the new school they are also adjusting to the COVID-19 protocols that have been put in place.
The design of the new school has been especially exciting, she added, because it is particularly helpful in supporting health measures that have been put in place.
“I feel much more confident in the space that we have with COVID-19 than if I would have been moving back into a very closed, very tight hallway,” Parker said. “I feel very, very confident with the ability to keep kids physically distanced.”
One of the challenges of opening a new school during COVID-19 was that families would be unable to tour the facility before the first day of classes, Parker said. Staff got creative and created a special section on the website offering a virtual tour using photos to showcase the new building.
“We wanted to comfort people,” Parker said. “We put the pictures online so they could see the space and see how much space there is.”
She noted, that while the majority of construction is complete, some finishing touches are being put in by contractors.
“There’s been a lot of love put into it,” Parker said. “The community got the building they deserved."
