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Francophone school coming to Kamloops

Francophone students will now have a permanent facility in Kamloops for École Collines-d'Or.

The province has given over $2 million to the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (CSF) to buy the former Oak Hills Elementary building from the Kamloops-Thompson School District. The school is big enough that if it requires expansion in the future, it will be able to meet the needs of K-12 francophone students in that area.

Currently, the CSF runs École Collines-d'Or, in its existing facility on a short-term lease from SD73. The building has a capacity of 88, and last year 87 students were enrolled. 

"We are pleased to be in a position to sell Oak Hills Elementary to Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique in support of both the francophone school district and the Ministry of Education. The SD73 board wants to acknowledge the ministry's significant capital investment in the Valleyview Secondary expansion, and we are encouraged other Kamloops projects are high on the priority list for additional capital investment in our district," says Rhonda Kershaw, chair of the Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education in a press release.

Oak Hills Elementary school was built for SD73 back in 1981 and was closed in 2006 due to declining student enrolment. The building includes four classrooms, a staff room, administration office space and an activity room.