EPSB.ca » Schools » Space for Students » Britannia Area » Background

Background

BRITANNIA AREA 

Many of our older schools are reaching the point where they will soon need major repairs. The older these schools get, the more expensive they are to maintain or upgrade. 

AREA MAP 

VIEW: Britannia Area Map (PDF) 

TIMELINE

 DATE
  COMMUNITY CONSULTATION
 March 2016 We hosted an intial meeting to talk about the condition of  Britannia, Brightview, Mayfield and Youngstown schools. 
 May 2016 We hosted a second meeting to talk about potential concepts for schools in the Britannia area. City of Edmonton also joined us to share information about other community projects happening in the area and answer questions. 
 October to February 2017 A working committee developed a community-driven plan using community feedback gathered at public meetings, along with data and other information.
 Spring 2017  We presented concepts based on feedback we heard from all public meetings, responses to online surveys and from the working committee. 


VIEW: Report to the Community (PDF)‌ provides a closer look at our engagement and consultation process in the Britannia, Westlawn and Rosslyn areas. 

WHAT WE HEARD 

Community feedback appeared to favour concept 2—a Pre-K to Grade 3 modernization to Mayfield School and a Grades 4-9 replacement school on the Britannia School site—over the other concepts.

This concept honours what we heard from the community about a desire for smaller school sizes and an openness for new grade configurations. 

This concept, however, does not honour the other feedback we heard from the community: 

  • Minimizing disruption for students: Mayfield School has a large number of students enrolled in the Pre-Kindergarten Program (formally known as Early Education), and a modernization of Mayfield School would be disruptive and make transitions challenging for this group. For a modernization at Mayfield School, students would have to change classrooms multiple times during construction.

  • Continuation of current programs/services: A modernization or replacement school at Mayfield School could potentially disrupt the delivery of the Pre-Kindergarten Program at Mayfield School.

  • Safe traffic corridors and accessibility: All students in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 3 in the Britannia area would be at a school on the Mayfield site; however, our data shows that most students in the area live south of 107 Avenue and would have to cross major traffic corridors to get to school. This goes against the feedback we heard from the community.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS 

While the concept includes a modernization of Mayfield School, we are also currently looking into the condition of the school to determine if a modernization or replacement school is more appropriate. However, this still goes against the feedback we heard about not disrupting students. If a replacement school was built, students would likely have to attend another school while construction was underway on the Mayfield site.

NEXT STEPS 

RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Once a decision is made, we’ll recommend to the Board of Trustees that they place the Britannia area concept in the future Three-Year Capital Plan.

The Three-Year Capital Plan is prepared each year and identifies the District’s needs for new schools, modernizations and replacement schools. The plan is approved by the Board of Trustees and is submitted to the provincial government each spring. The government plans funding based on the projects listed in the plan. Projects included in the plan are not guaranteed until government funding is announced.