A New Addition at Lynn Valley Elementary

Students at Lynn Valley Elementary are settling into six new classrooms following the completion of a 145-seat expansion at the school. The addition was officially celebrated on May 29 and marks the end of a two-year construction project that will help accommodate growing enrolment in the Lynn Valley community. According to the Province of British Columbia, the expansion adds 145 new student seats across six classrooms. The project cost more than $9 million and increases the school's capacity from 295 students to 440 students.

For Lynn Valley Elementary principal Susan Teegen, the excitement has come directly from students eager to see the new learning spaces. “They’re so excited. They’ve asked for tours,” Teegen told the North Shore News. The new addition will also allow the school to remove four portable classrooms currently being used on site.

Lynn Valley Elementary had an enrollment of 377 students during the current school year, exceeding the school's original capacity. The expansion is expected to help address space pressures as Lynn Valley continues to grow.

By September, kindergarten and Grade 1 students will use classrooms on the first floor of the new addition. Grade 6 and 7 students will occupy the second floor. North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Susie Chant attended the opening celebration and noted that the addition blends seamlessly with the existing school building. “A nice feature of the addition is the building looks seamless,” she told the North Shore News. “You do not know there’s been an addition.”

The project was first announced in December 2022. Construction was completed this spring. The Province says the expansion is part of broader investments in North Vancouver schools. Since 2017, the province has committed funding for more than 1,000 new student seats and 3,150 seismically safer seats across the North Vancouver School District.

Article contributed by Vansh Malhotra