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Grandview Heights Secondary holds official grand-opening event

Ribbon-cutting event had been delayed due to COVID-19
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Grandview Heights Secondary’s official ribbon-cutting ceremonies (left to right): Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum; principal Darren Bedard; Surrey Board of Education trustees Terry Allen, Bob Holmes and Laurae McNally; Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside; Surrey Board of Education chair Laurie Larsen, and trustees Garry Thind and Gary Tymoschuk. (Surrey Schools photo)

Though it’s been open since school began in September, Grandview Heights Secondary held its official ribbon-cutting ceremony Feb. 3, as students, teachers, politicians and other dignitaries gathered in the rain to celebrate South Surrey’s newest high school.

Official opening ceremonies had been delayed for pandemic-related reasons, and Thursday’s event was held “safely outdoors,” according to a news release issued by Surrey Schools.

“We are proud to give Grandview Heights Secondary the opening it deserves,” said Surrey board of education chair Laurie Larsen. “In just the past few months, the school has already become a centrepiece for this growing area and a staple of the community for families, and will continue to be for many years to come.”

In addition to a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches, a plaque – designed by Katzie artist Rain Pierre – with a territorial acknowledgment of the shared, unceded traditional territory of the Katzie, Semiahmoo and Kwantlen First Nations was also installed in the school.

Grandview Heights Secondary Opening Ceremony - Feb. 3, 2022 from Surrey Schools on Vimeo.

Grandview Heights Secondary is the first new secondary school in South Surrey in 28 years, and currently has 1,170 students enrolled, plus 65 staff members. Construction began in May 2019 and was completed last summer.

During a tour of the school in October, Grandview Heights Secondary was touted as a ‘school for the future’ in that it features flexible learning labs – which aim to emphasize collaboration – rather than traditional classrooms.

As well, the three-storey, 13,700 square-metre (147,465 sq.-ft.) building features an open learning commons rather than a library, lifestyle and science labs, a 150-seat re-configurable theatre, dance studio, two gymnasiums and modern metal and woodworking shops.

The total cost to build the school was $82 million.

According to the school district, the school’s environmentally conscious design provides a 50 per cent reduction in energy use compared to that of a typical school.



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Grandview Heights Secondary Grade 11 student Keira Murphy speaks during Thursday’s grand-opening of the South Surrey school. (Surrey Schools photo)