Ground-breaking and opening dates have been announced for St. John Paul II Academy’s South Surrey location. The new private school, at 18230 24 Ave., is expected to welcome 800 students for the fall semester of 2025.
Initially planned for a 2020 opening, the Catholic school faced many delays due to the pandemic. A temporary site has been operating at the Star of the Sea Hall (15362 Pacific Ave.) since 2018, educating 80 students from Grades 8-12.
READ MORE: ‘Major milestone’ for South Surrey Catholic school as rezoning application filed
“It was more than seven years ago that myself and a few others got together and started to see what the possibilities would be to get a school together,” said Troy Van Villet, board chair for St. John Paul II Academy Foundation.
The foundation began canvassing feeder schools to “see how interested the families would be in getting a new Catholic high school in the area built and realized very early on that there was a lot of interest (which) has gone up substantially, especially lately.”
This is a nice change of pace, the board chair added, since there was a “lull” in growth for the school due to delays that set everything back.
“COVID definitely threw a bunch of delays our way. That did not help at all in terms of getting the approvals through the city, getting our rezoning and permits.”
The groundbreaking for the new school is set for Friday, March 31 at 10 a.m. at the site where the new school will be built — 18230 24 Ave.
After the announcement, at 11:30 a.m., there will be a celebration mass and reception at the Star of the Sea Hall with Archbishop Miller of the Vancouver Archdiocese.
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