PICTOU LANDING, N.S. – Ground was broken on a new school at Pictou Landing First Nation Thursday, less than a year before the new building is expected to open.
Communications director Heather Head said the building should be ready for the 2019-2020 school year and added that construction “is supposed to start within the next two or three weeks.”
The school will house approximately 90 students next year, from pre-school aged children through Grade 8. It will be built where the ball field is now located in the community, and will include, among other things, a day care, and an area that will be able to hold community events.
“The gymnasium is going to be considerably larger than the one we have now and there’s going to be an outdoor, natural play area,” Head stated.
“The school is going to have state-of-the-art technology.”
The first community meeting for the new school was held in 2015.
The current school opened in the late 1990s and houses students from Grades Primary through Grade 6.
Funding for the new school is coming from Pictou Landing First Nation; Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey and the community is sourcing other partners. Head added that the budget for the new school is not complete as there are a couple of items that are still to be decided.
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