PHOTOS: New Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School opens to students in Langford

Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School welcomed students for the first time Monday (Nov. 14). (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

Sooke School District board trustee Ravi Parmar said final touches on some of the building’s interior will be made by the end of the calendar year. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

The new school features basketball courts and an artificial turf field outside. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

A shot from inside the library at the Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

SD62 board chair Ravi Parmar said the City of Langford provided flaggers to help the first day’s drop-off go smoothly. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School faces construction delays which means it won’t be open in time for the new school year. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

An outdoor courtyard space at Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School which has a soft. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

One of a number of inclusive bathrooms at Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

Despite construction delays, Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School came in on budget, according to SD62 board chair Ravi Parmar. (Bailey Moreton/News Staff)

The new Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School opened its doors to students on Monday (Nov. 14).

The delayed opening comes after supply chain issues and labour shortages kept the school’s doors from opening when the new school year started.

Despite those setbacks, Sooke School District board chair Ravi Parmar said the school came in on budget. There are still construction teams on site, finishing some of the interiors of the rooms, some lighting and doing landscaping work outside the school.

“A lot of work that’s going to be happening outside on landscaping, there’s going to be a little creek that connects the two schools, that’s relatively important. But they’ll continue working on that in the meantime. So there’ll be a little bit of noise for the kids here at Centre Mountain as there has been for Pexsisen over the last couple of months. But coming back next calendar year, hopefully all the construction will be completed and we’ll be able to move on to our next project.”

Since September, Grade 6 students have been going to Spencer Middle School, Grade 7 students to PEXSISEN Elementary School, and Grade 8 students have been going to Dunsmuir Middle School.

“Spencer and Dunsmuir are great schools, as is Journey, our other middle school, but (the students) feel pretty proud to call CML their new home.”

The school has a capacity for 700 students in Grades 6 to 8 and is located on the same property as the new 500-seat PEXSISEN Elementary School, which opened back in September.

The site for both schools was bought in December 2017, costing $25 million in total, with $23.4 million coming from the province and $1.6 million from the Sooke School District. In total, the province has given $65.1 million in funding for the site.

In the past five years, the Ministry of Education and Child Care has spent $227 million to create 2,280 new student seats in SD62, including a new 480-seat elementary school in south Langford and a 600-seat expansion at Royal Bay Secondary, as well as site purchases for three future schools.

“More and more families are moving to Langford, and now they have another great school right in their backyard,” Premier John Horgan, MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca, said in a statement.

PHOTOS: PEXSISEN elementary ready to welcome Langford students

Education Langford SD62 West Shore