At the last Langley board of education meeting, the school district debuted a new video. It offers viewers a virtual walk through of the new Langley Secondary, showing how the high school will look once renovations are complete — and it’s impressive.
With lots of natural light, open concourses and collaborative learning corners and hallways, the new design of Langley Secondary fits perfectly with the 21st century learning concept adopted by the provincial government a couple years ago.
The antiquated concept of classrooms filled with students sitting in desks while a teacher lectures from the front of the room is being replaced with tables and chairs and collaborative learning in spaces throughout a school, with students working together on projects.
The same open concept design will be built into the new Willoughby high school set to open in 2019.
In that school, a concourse will open up to the floor above and allow students to sit and work. A similar design can be seen at the entrance to Douglas College in New Westminster.
The LSS seismic upgrades and retrofit are moving forward, on pace for a September 2020 completion, said school district spokesperson Ken Hoff.
Most of the work is being done when school is not in session — during spring and summer breaks.
The approved budget from the Ministry of Education for the LSS retrofit is $22,985,177 with a maximum budget, including reserves, of $26,191,941.
At the last board meeting, trustees agreed to include an additional $420,575 for furniture, fixtures and equipment and the seismic upgrade of the small gym. Originally the gym was to be knocked down but a decision was later made to keep it. The additional funds are coming from the district local capital funds.
Opened in 1949, LSS is Langley’s oldest secondary school.
monique@langleytimes.com
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