New George Fitton School kindergarten classrooms ‘amazing’

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This article was published 31/10/2015 (3809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The new kindergarten classrooms at George Fitton School are bright and airy with plenty of room for educational activities — aside from the hardwood floors, it’s hard to imagine the space was once the elementary school’s gymnasium.

On Friday morning, Education and Advanced Learning Minister James Allum was at George Fitton to check out the two classrooms, which have been operational since September, and promote the province’s smaller class size initiative.

“They are state-of-the-art facilities that provide any number of opportunities to children to learn and show their creative and imaginative sides as well,” Allum said after visiting with the kindergarten students in their new digs. “The formula for student success is small class sizes, state-of-the-art facilities and more teachers so they can have important one-on-one time.”

In January, George Fitton celebrated the opening of its new full-sized gymnasium and started working toward repurposing the old 2,400-square-foot gym.

“We didn’t want to have a school with two gyms, that wouldn’t serve any purpose,” said Mark Sefton, chair of the Brandon School Division board of trustees. “They are amazing kindergarten spaces … (and) they are bigger than traditional classrooms.”

The school’s new open-concept classrooms have high ceilings, large windows and private adjoining washrooms. The two kindergarten classes have roughly 20 students each, according to Sefton.

George Fitton is one of three elementary schools in Brandon to benefit from the $21 million in funding the BSD has received from the province for capital projects since 2011.

Students at Waverly Park School moved into two new classrooms last week and construction is underway at Meadows School that will result in three additional classrooms and an elevator.

While additional classrooms will likely help with BSD’s growing enrolment in the short term, Sefton says the division is still in need of a new school.

“We are very rapidly running out of space,” Sefton said, adding that BSD has been asking for a new school for nearly three years. “We’ve made our case very clearly and continuously and maybe they’re tired of hearing from us on it.”

Allum had little information about the prospects on Friday and said the division will have to “stay tuned.”

On Thursday, the province committed to investing $3 million to hire at least 50 new teachers to help cap kindergarten to Grade 3 classes at 20 students.

According to the minister’s office, BSD receives more than $400,000 annually to hire new teachers, but it’s unclear if the division will get a cut of the funds announced this week.

Since the beginning of the smaller classes initiative in 2011, the Manitoba government has dedicated $13 million to hiring new teachers — $5.7 million of that amount has been allocated to rural school divisions outside Brandon and Winnipeg.

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