The new area, which will be called the Glen Abbey Campus, is 15,000 square feet and includes green space and a 3.5 kilometre trail behind the one-story building. The facility was previously used for office space, but MacLachlan has successfully filed a change-of-use permit and will be renovating the building to make it suitable for education. The goal of acquiring the secondary campus is to allow for smaller class sizes and to allow all MacLachlan students to attend five days a week.
Students in grade seven and below will continue to attend the original location, now called the Trafalgar Campus. MacLachlan has also been employing remote learning with both synchronous and asynchronous elements this year. It will take time to make the new location feel like home, but schools and other institutions are often able to create a sense of identity in new surroundings through tools like poster printing, social events, and banner printing.
Lisa Duranleau, Executive Director of the college, expressed her anticipation for the change:
“Our staff are excited about this new space and are busy planning for delivering their programs in September with the added ability to shift how they need to teach depending on the circumstances
MacLachlan will officially take ownership of its Glen Abbey campus on August 1, with the goal of being prepared to welcome students in September for the new school year.