From the movable walls to the toddler-height windows, everything at the new mem?iman Early Childhood Development Centre has been designed with the child in mind.
With a price tag of $4.5 million, the state-of-the-art, 1,134-square-metre childhood development centre sits on shíshálh (Sechelt) Nation band lands close to the band hall and boasts a green roof and plentiful natural light, as well as walls that move to connect classrooms to each other and the outside.
Children aged two to five who will attend the centre starting Sept. 14 will benefit from spaces designed for the specific style of learning implemented at mem?iman. The centre runs a Reggio Emilia inspired program that calls for exploration and discovery by children in a supportive and enriching environment where adults craft lessons based on children’s curiosities.
The program also puts a lot of emphasis on the natural world and outside play.
On that front, the new centre has a natural playground that can now be seeded with grass thanks to the relaxation on water restrictions, and large sliding glass doors that open classrooms to a communal covered area where children can hang up their backpacks and jackets. There are also raised garden beds that will be planted by the children later this year and space for their mini-longhouse to be moved in the future.
Also included in the new centre, built by Spani Developments, is a toddler room and sleeping area for two to three year olds, four classrooms for use by students aged three to five, including a shared sensory play room, a large open art room, a therapist room with a two-way mirror for parents to see what’s going on, an industrial kitchen with two fridges, a freezer and kid-height counters, a laundry room, an elevator, and an office and two multipurpose areas on the second floor.
The building has been equipped with sensory lights and water fixtures and ultimately the top floor will be available for rent, but right now the shíshálh Nation’s director of education, culture and recreation, Lenora Joe, said they’re just working to get the child care side open so kids can start attending Sept. 14.
When Joe spoke with Coast Reporter this week she was waiting for safety gates to be installed and some final items to arrive before she could officially welcome children.
The centre is currently licensed to take 40 students, although in the future Joe hopes to have enough staff trained to take in 79 kids, the maximum the centre would be allowed based on its size.
The opening of mem?iman this September is “a new era” for the shíshálh Nation, Chief Calvin Craigan said.
“When I was a young chief, the original child care facility was a converted old barn and it was left over from the residential school and even my children went there. They went from there to the church when they had no buildings and now we’ve got this state-of-the-art building. We’re really proud of it and I think it’s going to be a great asset to our people,” Craigan said.
“The contractors put a lot of great effort into it. They put a lot of sweat and tears into that place – more effort than normal – so we’re really grateful to those people.”
The centre was designed and substantially built within seven months after the shíshálh Nation got news last September that money granted by the provincial and federal government for the project needed to be spent by March of this year.
The $4.5 million for the new mem?iman centre had been secured years ago, but was tied to a community recreation facility project at Ted Dixon Park that never came to fruition, Joe said.
“We thought they were taking the money back – that was the last we heard – and then all of a sudden Peter Jmaeff [shíshálh Nation public works director] came and met with us last September and said, ‘I’ve just come from a meeting with the Department of Indian Affairs and they will let us keep the money if we start building tomorrow,’” Joe said.
She and her staff looked at the old design and realized it needed to be reworked entirely.
“So staff got together, brainstormed, worked with the architects and came up with the plan,” Joe said.
“They really did research on Reggio and outdoor education and said, ‘This is the kind of facility we want for our children.’”
The new facility is a welcoming and engaging space that’s sure to serve students well for many years to come and it can be expanded in the future if need be.
“It’s in a location so they can expand, not only the building, but the grounds, the playgrounds and the community garden,” Craigan noted.
