St. Evan Catholic Elementary School to open in the New Year

December 13, 2018 · 0 Comments

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

St. Evan School Catholic Elementary School is scheduled to open in the New Year.

About 500 students will attend the junior kindergarten to Grade 8 school when it opens its doors to the children on Monday, Jan. 7 2019. It will be located at 500 Dougall Ave, north of Highway 410 between Hurontario Street and Kennedy Road.

The principal is Joe Amodeo and the vice principal is Maria Parris. Tammy-Lynne Peel is the school’s superintendent.

“This school is based on a new prototype of design for Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School board in terms of the type of facility, said Mathew Thomas, superintendent of planning and operation for Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. In terms of it being state of the art, I would say it certainly has a design that incorporates more natural light and makes the learning environment a lot brighter.

“Certainly, the spaces are equipped for a lot more use of technology to be incorporate in the learning environment and class room teaching. The school also includes a child care centre and it has very nice outdoor learning space and a full day kindergarten play yard which are all basically state of the art based on their design.”

The institution was initially set to open on Thursday, Sept. 4 of this year, however construction delays pushed it back fourth months.

“We had another school that was also being tendered at exactly the same time called St. Jacinta Marto Catholic Elementary School, which is in Brampton, said Thomas. Because we had two schools on the go at the same time, it was a bit of an ambitious schedule to have both of them opening by September.”

“St. Jacinto Marto did open in September but there were still a few finishes touches that had to be completed after the school year began. With respect to St. Evan, the project was just not in a sufficient state and we made the call late in the spring that we had to postpone the opening until such time that we felt more confident that the project will be substantially complete and ready for opening, which we plan to be for January 2019.”

The board received approval for capital funding to proceed with construction from the Ontario Ministry of Education in early 2018. From January to August, it was difficult to have both schools complete on time.

The construction team tender the project immediately after the board received approval form the ministry to proceed. Thomas said it typically takes about eight to 12 months to build an elementary school.

Students have to attend St. Rita Elementary School and St. Leonard Elementary School in Brampton as they wait St. Evan to open.

The school is an exact replica of St. Jacinto Marto, incorporating a lot of the same materials. It is located on 40 Fallowfield Rd. in Brampton.

“One of the things you’ll notice about it at first glance is the main entrance area has a beautiful atrium and it has some very nice exterior wood finishes, said Thomas. It certainly sets it apart in terms of the latest prototype of the design that our board is using.”

“From all accounts that we have received from the community at St. Jacinto Marto and from parents of St. Evan students who have been to St. Jacinto Marto site, they have commented on how stunning the design absolutely looks.”

He said they outline the projected enrolment for the school in the next 10 years, coming to a capacity of about 500 students. Enrolment, however can grow beyond their projected numbers.

“If enrolment did increase a little bit beyond what the capacity of the school is, we always have the option to put portables on the site, but at this point we don’t foresee the need for building a permanent addition onto that school based on our enrolment projections for the area, said Thomas.

At this time, construction crews are working on aesthetic features of the school. Thomas said nothing should comprise or affect the opening of the school on Jan. 7.

The main components of the interior are done and the custodial services team is in the building cleaning extensively throughout. Teachers who have been assigned to the school had already taken a tour of the facility, given an orientation and are expected to set up their classroom in the next two weeks.

Thomas said the exterior features of the yard and the site will not be completed until after the school opens.

He said some of the features are weather dependent. The field won’t be ready for use until the spring and for paving, crews may add another layer of asphalt as the weather gets warmer in the spring. Those assets will not comprise the school’s ability to be occupied and ready for use.

“As a board, we’re very keen, we’re very much looking forward to opening this latest facility in Caledon, said Thomas. We want to thank the community for their patience and for their understanding during this entire process in particularly, in terms of their accommodations of us being able to work with their students over the past four months while we had to relocate them during the construction delay.”

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board serves over 81,000 students in 149 schools throughout Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon and Orangeville, according to a news release.