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Ecole Beausoleil to have temporary, modular school in Saanich by September

The $9.9 million temporary school to be built at Braefoot Elementary
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The B.C. government says Ecole Beausoleil students will have a temporary home in Saanich when the next school year starts up in September. Pictured is Grade 2 student Leon Moinier of Ecole Beausoleil with dad Sam Becevel. (Black Press Media file photo)

The B.C. government says Ecole Beausoleil students will have a temporary home in Saanich when the next school year starts up in September.

The province is giving the Conseil Scolaire Francophone (B.C.’s French school board) $9.9 million to build a temporary, 12-unit modular school on the grounds of Braefoot Elementary.

A B.C. news release said the modular school will be connected by covered walkways and provide “all the amenities needed to facilitate a safe, functional and positive learning environment for students.”

Ecole Beausoleil’s lease with the Greater Victoria School District (SD61) for Sundance Elementary in Victoria, which the francophone school has called home since 2015, ends in June.

READ: Lansdowne school grounds could be home to new Francophone school

Beausoleil is currently a Kindergarten to Grade 3 school, but will expand to include Grades 4 through 6 in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. The school’s before- and after-school child care program will also be available in September, the province said.

The CSF is currently in negotiations with the SD61 to buy 7.3 acres of land from the Lansdowne Middle School campus, where a permanent Ecole Beausoleil could be built. The province says a final decision on the land transfer will be informed by ongoing public consultation.

Patrick Gatien, the CSF’s education board chair, said they’re happy with the progress on the temporary school for Ecole Beausoleil families and working hard to finalize the permanent Lansdowne site.


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