A rendering of what the completed school will look like (Photo: Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools)

By Shaun Penner

Projected for 2022-23

O’Brien Lake West school construction begins

Oct 22, 2020 | 11:23 AM

Construction of the O’Brien Lake West School is officially underway.

Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools (GPCSD) announced construction of the new Pre K-Grade 9 school, located at 6201 Tamarack Drive, began earlier this week. The school is projected to be open to students for the 2022-23 school year.

“We are really, super excited to get that school started. It’s been something that is a couple of years in the planning and design stages, so we’re really happy that it’s started now, even though winter is upon us,” said GPCSD Superintendent Karl Germann.

Germann says the school will house around 900 students, similar in size to St. Joseph’s and St. John Paul II High Schools. He adds the school will have an “innovative” floor plan, with the design being similar to that of Norma Rose Point School in Vancouver, BC.

“We went down and looked at a number of different schools and looked at plans while we were here, and the one we were most intrigued with was Norma Rose,” said Germann. “It takes a fairly large design, and breaks it down into little communities, so there is not one common gathering space, or one common area.”

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With that, the floor plan of the O’Brien Lake school will include six “Learning Neighbourhoods”.

“Kids have a better sense of community when they’re in a larger school if it’s broken down into little neighbourhoods,” said Germann. “It just makes for a strong sense of community and sharing, and makes kids feel safe.”

The floor plan will be broken down into six “learning neighbourhoods”, meant to create a closer sense of community for the students (Photo: Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools)

Calgary’s LEAR Contracting is the project manager, who previously managed the St. Kateri School modernization. However, Germann says that many local contractors and companies will be involved, which is important for the division.

“We want to make sure that a lot of tradespeople from the local area and a lot of local companies are hired. They’ve secured a lot of local people for the school.”

Germann adds that registered apprenticeship students from St. Joe’s and St. John Paul II will also get learning experience on the project.

Construction is slated to to take approximately 16 months, with the school being ready to open in August of 2022.

“We want to communicate directly with O’Brien Lake families and keep them in the loop about the status of the construction, like a friendly neighbour we want to say hi and provide updates via social media,” added Germann.

“Feel free to contact communications@gpcsd.ca or give us a call at 780-532-3013 if you have any questions.”