School district and city officials gathered this morning to announce new additions to Revelstoke's two new schools project to be funded through the Neighbourhood Learning program. They announced two new Neighbourhood Learning Centres, one each for the new elementary school and new high school.

"Thank you to you all for working together on this exciting initiative for our district and our community," said Revelstoke board of education chair Alan Chell to a gathering of city officials, school board officials, and other stakeholders at the official announcement Wednesday morning.

The new Neighbourhood Learning Centre at the new Revelstoke Secondary school will be home to a new 275-seat theatre, and a coordinated health services aimed at vulnerable teenagers. The coordinated health services for teens will include an on-site social worker, mental health services and substance abuse prevention.

The new Neighbourhood Learning Centre in Revelstoke Elementary will include B.C.'s first early-learning hub which is designed to provide "seamless services for children from infancy to school age," stated a joint press release from the premier's office and the education ministry.

This early-learning hub will include a StrongStart BC program, two state-of-the-art childcare centres, and early-learning library as well as a child-care resource and referral program.

The school will be home to programs that provide medical, dental, literacy and community services to students and their families. In addition, the new elementary school will be home to an acrobatic centre.

"Our vision for the future of education in British Columbia is one where educational services and community resources are brought together under one roof to better support families and learners," wrote Premier Campbell in a statement. "Neighbourhood Learning Centres are an innovative and creative way for school districts to partner with community organizations to offer a variety of services that benefit the entire community."

Chell said the facilities will allow the district to continue their leading work in early learning and also provide new facilities. "We are thrilled to be the first school district in B.C. to have our plans approved for our Neighbourhood Learning Centre model schools," said Chell. "This project will enhance our district's and our community's exceptional early learning services that support students and their families and add greatly to our educational, cultural and recreational opportunities. These state-of-the-art facilities will benefit our community tremendously for years to come."

At the official announcement, mayor David Raven thanked the school board for the work they put in to get the project off the ground and said the facilities would benefit the entire community.

"It's truly been a privilege from the city's perspective to work with the school board on this. Their leadership and and their drive and direction has to be recognized," he said. "This is a facility that will last long beyond where we are today.

He made special mention of the theatre that will be part of the new schools.

"The most exciting one for us, of course, is the theatre. We've thought about theatres, talked about theatres, we've wanted theatres and now we're going to have one."

The total budget for the two Neighbourhoods Learning Centres is about $5 million dollars. Construction of the new schools is scheduled to start in the spring of 2010, with the elementary school opening in the fall of 2011 and Revelstoke Secondary in early 2012.

"A lot of people still say, 'When is this going to happen? Is this going to happen?' Yes it is," said Chell.

Premier Campbell went on to commend the district for their work bringing the centre together. "I would like to commend the Revelstoke school district for bringing community partners together in designing these schools with the needs of the community in mind. Schools serve as the perfect place for us to focus our attention on lifelong learning, from the needs of our youngest learners to those in the K-12 system, to providing families with the important services they need at one central location."

The Neighbourhoods of Learning program is new to the province, and was first announced by the premier in September of 2008. The Revelstoke Neighbourhood Learning Centres are scheduled to be the first completed in B.C. The basic concept behind the centres is to bring education and community services together and locate them in a single neighbourhood hub.

Premier Campbell outlined this goal when he announced this program on Sept. 3, 2008, saying: “This government has a vision for education in B.C. – one where schools and community organizations can create Neighbourhoods of Learning where people can access educational and community services under one roof. Schools throughout the province will be able to adopt this model in the future to best meet the needs of their students and communities.”