BEDFORD, N.S. – Going back to school typically means getting new notebooks, pens and pencils — but 1,300 students in the Bedford, N.S. area are getting a whole new building in September.
The new Charles P. Allen building is state-of-the-art with lots of new innovative features.
The “cafetorium” is a large room off the main foyer. With three-storey floor to ceiling windows, it will seat hundreds of students for lunch. It also converts into a performance hall that can seat up to 250 people. It opens up into a general use courtyard complete with outdoor eating and study space and gardens. The space will be used by the students and the community.
In fact, the community pitched in $11 million extra dollars for special upgrades to the new space — a cat walk in the cafetorium, lighting and sound systems, an additional gymnasium, dance rooms, meeting rooms and a full-sized CFL-regulation football field with all-weather turf.
“This school offers educational opportunities that either didn’t exist in our previous school or have been completely upgraded in this school,” said principal Stephanie Bird. “It really is phenomenal.”
WATCH: A brief video tour of the new school
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The province put $37 million into the build, which took three years to complete.
Other features of the school include state-of-the-art security designs. Windows from each classroom look out onto hallways that feature ‘standing study’ tables and modular seating for group and collaborative learning. In the event of a security breach or lockdown, however, the white boards slide over the windows obscuring the views into the classroom from the outside, while keeping the inside environment safe.
The building is also environmentally friendly, with a living roof to keep air conditioning costs to a minimum, natural gas for heat in the winter and rain water collected in rooftop cisterns that flush through the toilets.
The parking lot features several spots to plug in electric cars and there are solar panels on the roof.
“It’s going to be just a wonderful place for not only our young people, our students here, but also for the community,” says Education Minister Ramona Jennex.
The school will officially open on Sept. 6, 2013. Jennex says the project has come in both on budget and on time.
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