More than 180 students at West Mont Montessori School in Metchosin may have a new place to learn in future.
Operators of the West Shore private school are in the initial stages of exploring the possibility of building a replacement school on their current lot, adjacent to WittyB次元官网网址檚 Lagoon. While no application has been submitted to the District of Metchosin, Corvidae Environmental Consulting made a presentation to council last week on behalf of the school.
B次元官网网址淲e have an aging facility, that is the big thing, that is the impetus,B次元官网网址� school principal Magnus Hanton in an interview. B次元官网网址淲e just hope to get an idea on what their thoughts are on development.B次元官网网址�
One of two potential options for the project, if it were to move forward, would be to bring in modular units to the current playing field, replacing the current building on the same footprint and removing the temporary units following completion.
The other could see a new building constructed on the playing field, demolishing the existing building when that was done.
Hanton, school principal since 2012, said they arenB次元官网网址檛 looking to grow the number of students or take over any extra land, but may want to have a larger footprint on the land on which the school currently resides.
B次元官网网址淲e certainly want to have a cap on our numbers because we are a smaller school and there is a certain atmosphere (that) happens with having a smaller number of students,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淪o we do have caps at different age levels.B次元官网网址�
The current enrolment of 185 could be increased by another 25 or so given the existing program offerings, Hanton said. B次元官网网址淭hat would be our cap and we wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be looking to go much beyond that.B次元官网网址�
The school, which offers Kindergarten to Grade 8 classes, was once housed in portables on the Luxton Fairgrounds in Langford. It moved to its current location in 1988 and has been on the West Shore for more than 50 years. Hanton said if any redevelopment plans were to move forward, a replacement school wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be in place for at least three to five years.
alim@goldstreamgazette.com
