This celebration represents the coming together of both English and French cultures within our community of schools. This new facility was designed to offer English and French Immersion education from Grades 8 to 10. Over a two-year period, Grades 11 & 12 will be phased into the school. The school contains various specialized facilities to train students interested in a diverse selection of trades and industries.
St. John Paul II Catholic School / Faculté Jean Paul II was designed as a core school concept that will accommodate 750 students initially, with a core building designed to expand to a 1000 student capacity.


Working interactively with staff and representatives from across the GPCSD, has allowed the concept for this school to evolve into a truly special teaching and learning environment. This will become the golden standard for future schools within the District and across Northern Alberta. This new school is also a celebration of the Trades in Northern Alberta, as the new school will offer new opportunities and community outreach for students entering the working sector.


A key feature of the school is Flex Spaces, which were created to allow freedom for students, when choosing their learning environment. The majority of the classrooms contain glass door walls, unlike a traditional classroom, teachers will be able to expand each classroom size depending on their course needs. Other unique features of the school include: High School Gymnasium which can be split to form 2 full gyms, a large Drama/Black Box room and a selection of Art, Music and Design studio classrooms.


There’s a Commercial Cooking Lab with industry grade equipment, which will offer our students the opportunity to utilize restaurant quality kitchen and machinery. The Welding Labs/Construction Lab contain detailed work areas, benches and individual welding bays to support students entering the local workplace.


The Cosmetology Lab was designed with a layout identical to the industry standard for teaching post-secondary Cosmetology. There’s an outdoor classroom which offers students the chance to enjoy the outdoors while staying in an engaging learning environment.
The GPCSD and Grande Prairie Live Theatre have partnered together to run the JPII Performing Arts Centre, located within the new school. The new theatre can seat up to 350 people and has state-of-the-art theatre audio and LED lighting equipment, a full stage length cyclorama screen for projection, special lighting effects and acoustic engineering for perfect sound quality.

 

The Rotary Community Food Drive was amazing last night! I attached a couple photos of the inside of St. Patrick Catholic School for your own use.

Photo credit: Adam Tremblay, Grande Prairie & District Catholic Schools

 

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