The long-anticipated day finally came when students, teachers and staff of Gwynne Valley Rural Academy (GVRA) moved into their permanent building on Nov. 29.
This is the first school year of the new charter school. Although classes started on Sept. 3, they were held at the Central Community Hall.
The original goal was to transition to Gwynne Heritage Building (the former Gwynne School) located at 15 Government Ave., by week three or four of classes.
The charter school got the go-ahead from the Minister of Education and the move was on. The transition started on Nov. 28 and kids were in class in the new building the next morning.
"We are truly grateful to have had a temporary home at Central Community Hall that afforded us the ability to launch GVRA at all," said GVRA board chair Ben Christenson in a Facebook post. "We are confident that moving into our school home will give students, teachers and staff what they need to thrive."
GVRA was founded by a group of parents and community members after Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools decided to permanently close the public school in Gwynne in 2023.
The school had been temporarily closed in October, 2021 after failing building and fire inspections.
The idea to open a charter school was born.
GVRA took ownership of the building on Aug. 9, and the school underwent six weeks of intense remediation work, completed almost entirely by qualified contractors who volunteered their time.
Modular classrooms were also added to create the Rasmuson Campus.
After the work was complete, the building passed code and fire inspection on the first try. An Alberta Health Services inspection was also conducted.
After that, the school had a thorough cleaning and further preparations were made. All that was left was to wait for the Alberta government to sign off on the inspections and all the work done, and that approval was recently received.
The charter principle of GVRA is early vocation exposure or 'EVE.'
To align with that principle, the school provides opportunities for the students to engage with a variety of vocations, learning life skills through hands-on learning. Every Wednesday, GVRA hosts a career presentation.
