Global News was given a sneak peek inside one of Calgary’s newest schools on Tuesday.
Nelson Mandela High School, located in the 0-100 block of Saddletowne Circle NE, will open to students on Sept. 6. It will serve the northeast communities of Saddle Ridge, Martindale, Falconridge, Taradale, Castleridge and Coral Springs.
Although the school will welcome students next month, construction on some parts the facility – such as the gym – isn’t yet complete. As such, the school will serve only Grade 10 and Grade 11 students for its first year; Grade 12 students will then be welcomed during the 2017-18 school year.
As the school won’t have access to a gym for the 2016-17 school year, students will instead use dedicated gym space at the Genesis Centre as well as the wellness floor and dance studio at the YMCA.
“Our athletics director was hired early because we knew that extra work was needed to coordinate between our school, the YMCA and the Genesis Centre,” Nelson Mandela High School principal Teresa Martin said in a statement on the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) website.
“We will offer a robust athletics program along with excellent extra-curricular opportunities. Having easy access to these state-of-the-art facilities will be wonderful for our students.”
The school is designed without a traditional library and instead offers a so-called Learning Commons. In addition, the CBE said the facility was created with few lockers to make room for wider hallways and larger classrooms.
This year, there are just over 1,100 students registered at the school, which is expected to have a capacity of 1,800 students.
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