With student enrolment on the rise in the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows School District, expansion plans are underway to manage the growth at multiple schools, in addition to a site acquisition plan in the Silver Valley area.
School board chair Elaine Yamamoto said the increased enrolment will be accommodated by ensuring “optimal utilization of available school space.”
In the fall of 2025, an expanded Eric Langton Elementary School will be opening, and an expansion to Harry Hooge Elementary will be opened in the fall of 2026 – subject, she said, to the Ministry of Education and Child Care approval for funding for this last project.
Eric Langton will be expanded to accommodate a total of 680 students in a building that will be built to LEED Gold standards, meaning the school will be designed with energy-saving measures in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For this project the province committed $46.4 million, with the school district committing an additional $2.5 million.
The Harry Hooge project will see capacity increased from 465 students to 680, with an estimated cost of $16.8 million.
According to BC Statistics, enrolment trends at primary schools has been growing across the province since 2015 and will continue to increase up to 2029 when it is expected to stabilize. The upward trend in enrolment is due to an increase in the birth rate across the province, in addition to population rising from in-migration.
Enrolment at secondary schools has been growing since 2017 and is expected to keep growing beyond 2035.
The school district’s Strategic Facilities Plan outlines a provincial forecast for household growth in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows that shows an increase from 46,462 households in 2020 to 61,161 by 2035, an 32 per cent increase in living spaces.
Elementary schools within the boundaries of SD42 have seen a steady increase in enrolment since 2015, which is forecast to slightly increase each year, which could be nearly 12 per cent by 2035.
Projections in the plan show that by 2030, the school district will need an additional 895 spaces and by 2035, an additional 1,002 spaces.
Enrolment at secondary schools in the district, on the other hand, have been stable for the past five years, but according to current forecasts will begin to increase again each year, resulting in an estimated 27 per cent increase by 2035.
“We are currently in the process of engaging a consultant to complete the Project Definition Report for the HHE, (Harry Hooge Elementary), expansion project. Our major capital plan submission to the ministry for 2024/25 further includes proposals for school expansion projects for Blue Mountain Elementary and Samuel Robertson Technical Secondary, and a site acquisition in Silver Valley for a new school site to support long term enrolment projections,” explained Yamamoto.
Blue Mountain Elementary will see an increase in capacity from 295 students to 680 with an estimated cost of $35.5 million and Samuel Robertson will see an increase from 600 to 1,300 students with an estimated cost of $61.4 million.
And early in the year the province announced plans to replace Pitt Meadows Secondary School, a project that will come with an estimated price tag of $121.1 million.
A new school in the Silver Valley area is also needed and, based on local government figures, the school board estimates that 7,945 new development units will be built in that area over the next decade, that will be home to an additional 1,317 students. The board expects to require a 3.6 hectare, or 8.45 acre, piece of land for a new elementary school site, to be purchased sometime in the next 10 years.
The location, said SD42 spokesperson, Irena Pochop, in a location north of Maple Ridge Park with an estimated land cost of $26.09 million. The proposal has been incorporated into the board’s 2024/25 Capital Plan and has been submitted to the Ministry of Education and Child Care.
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Until these expansion projects are complete, the district will also be creating new temporary spaces through the addition of portable classrooms when necessary, said Yamamoto, noting that they have already added a number of portables to school sites than is documented in the Strategic Facilities Review report, including four this school year – one at Yennadon Elementary, one at Golden Ears Elementary, and two at cusqunela Elementary.
Currently: Samuel Robertson Technical has the most portables with 14, including one non-instructional building and two weight rooms; followed by Maple Ridge Secondary with six portables, including one non-instructional building and one for child care; Albion Elementary with five portables; Golden Ears Elementary with five; and Eric Langton Elementary with four, one of these being a child care space.
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For capital planning, the school district splits the schools into three zones – west, central, and east – and it is in the central east zone that the district is currently seeing enrolment growth pressure.
“Though expect that some of this pressure will be addressed with the new Eric Langton Elementary facility, which will have room for six more classrooms,” she said, noting the board will continue to advocate to the Ministry of Education and Child Care for capital funding for new schools and school expansions as a part of their capital planning process.
“We have an amazing district with dedicated staff offering many education choices. I hope to see us continue to innovate so that all our students are given the fullest opportunity to reach their potential,” added Yamamoto
