More classrooms are on the way for students and staff at Sunnyside Elementary with construction beginning on a 10-classroom addition to support families.

“Families in Surrey are seeing concrete results of our government’s work to build new and expanded schools that give children the best opportunities to succeed,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education. “Students are already benefiting from the opening of three new Surrey schools in the last year alone, and there are more investments on the way.”

The Government of B.C. is investing $11.4 million on the addition at Sunnyside Elementary, which will move 250 students out of portables and into classrooms when it is complete in September 2022.

To further support enrolment growth in the Sunnyside neighbourhood, the Province has also provided $39.1 million to build a new, 655-seat Ta’talu Elementary school, including before-and-after school child care spaces. The school is expected to open in September 2023 in south Surrey.

“We are very excited to start construction on this 10-classroom addition to Sunnyside Elementary,” said Laurie Larsen, chair, Surrey Board of Education. “South Surrey has been developing very rapidly and this addition will help support our district in addressing the needs of our growing community. We thank the provincial government for their investment and look forward to continuing to work together to increase capacity and create modern learning environments for our students.”

Building new and expanded schools is part of the Province’s work to give students the best learning experience possible, without having to spend their days in portables.

In less than four years, the Government of B.C. has approved nearly $450 million to increase capacity in Surrey schools, upgrade high-risk schools and purchase property for future schools to meet projected demand. These projects are helping to create nearly 9,600 new student spaces in Surrey by 2025.

Because of these investments, the Surrey School District did not need to purchase new portables for September 2021, even as enrolment continues to grow.

To support this momentum, Budget 2021 includes a record $3.5 billion for school capital projects that gives students the best learning experience possible.