Loud applause filled the air of the new Mackay Centre and Philip E. Layton school’s gymnasium as the $30 million state-of-the-art facility was declared officially open Tuesday.
Staff, students, local politicians and Global’s Kim Sullivan, a former teacher, were on hand for the ceremonial ribbon cutting.
The new modern-looking building in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce comes after years of pleading from parents and teachers in the English community.
The school, which accommodates 170 students with developmental, intellectual, auditory or visual impairments, is the only one of its kind for the English speaking community.
Students from all nine Quebec English school boards will attend the school, offering specialized educational and rehabilitative services.
“The first thing people say is ‘Wow,’ and I say, ‘You haven’t seen nothing yet,'” said Mackay and Philip E. Layton principal Patrizia Ciccarelli.
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The over 9,000-square-metre facility has been designed to cater to the diverse needs of its students, who suffer from severe disabilities.
Four elevators and a ramp link the two-storey building, making the school fully accessible.
It is equipped with adapted washrooms and 32 specialized classrooms, which include several resource rooms, a physiotherapy and occupational therapy gym, classrooms for the visually impaired, a music therapy room, and computer labs.
“It’s set up so the kids can trail easily on the walls and align themselves with where they need to go,” vice-principal Greg Watson said while strolling through the wide hallways.
The building opened its doors in August and still has some ongoing construction to be completed. The 25-metre indoor therapeutic pool and the unique playground structure and a mini synthetic soccer field remain unfinished.
They are expected to be completed by the end of October.
Ciccarelli says the $500,000 accessible playground will be a one of a kind.
“I am very happy for our students and their families, for the teachers, and our rehab partners who will be working here,” Ciccarelli said.
“They deserve it.”
Melissa Racine, a teacher at the centre, says the new building is beautiful and bright with natural light and a great area for learning and working.
Racine transferred from the old centre and says that even though the building is new, the atmosphere remains the same.
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