(Y95 News photo)
An open house was held Monday night at Yarmouth Elementary School (YES) and the public had a chance to tour the new school and learn about the curriculum.
Open and spaces are prominent in the new facility.
YES’s playground is “a work in progress,” according to Richard Gosling, chair of the school advisory council. He says the multi-phase project will require fundraising.
The P to 6 replaces the former Central and South Centennial Schools and also offers a pre-primary program.
The opening was delayed by a year and Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Zach Churchill says it was for a good reason.
“Because we needed to make it bigger. We’ve actually grown our population in the Town of Yarmouth and that resulted in the previous design of the school not being large enough to accommodate the student body. Now we have a school that should the amount of kids that are going to be in it.
The current student population is approximately 300.
Meanwhile Churchill says says concerns over washroom designs at Yarmouth Elementary School are being addressed.
Some parents have posted to social media, very upset that some of the toilets didn’t have dividers and offered no privacy.
Zach Churchill says there was confusion over the pre-primary and the P to 6 washrooms but the designs in the pre-primary washrooms are industry standard
“They’re open concepts so any daycare you go into you’ll see that but we are responding to the parents concerns about enhanced privacy in the pre-primary washrooms so there is going to be partitions installed this week.
Meanwhile the Minister says the biggest challenge for the province’s pre-primary program is keeping up with demand.
YES offers pre-primary, play-based learning to four-year-olds.
Churchill says there are 4500 kids enrolled this year with only 50 sites left.
(videos by Sean MacLellan-Y95 News)
