It took less than eleven months to add six classrooms to overcrowded Richard Bulpitt Elementary, in 91Ô­´´'s fast-growing Willoughby neighbourhood.

The 91Ô­´´ School Board approved the plan, with funding from the province, in October 2023.

By May and July, the $9 million modular classroom addition, built offsite in a factory, was being installed. The new wing opened in September 2024 in time for the students arriving for the start of a new school year.

Richard Bulpitt went from having six portables to only requiring two, after the new two-storey addition.

In June 2024, before the Richard Bulpitt classrooms were fully in place, the board, province, and 91Ô­´´ City announced the next site. Nicomekl Elementary will receive an eight-classroom addition, costing $12 million.

"We know that traditionally built classrooms and schools can take years," said Rachna Singh, the then-Minister of Education.

The Nicomekl addition is expected to be open for the fall of 2025.

On Sept. 17, then-MLA Megan Dykeman announced a third modular addition, another six classrooms for Lynn Fripps.

Also in September, Singh announced two brand-new traditionally-built schools were coming to 91Ô­´´.

A new secondary school and middle school in the Smith area of Willoughby will receive $306 million of provincial funding. The two schools are expected to be open in the fall of 2027. The high school will have space for 1,900 students and the middle school for 900 students.

In December, 91Ô­´´ School Board Chair Candy Ashdown announced the new name for the elementary school under construction in the 20100-block of 82 Avenue – Josette Dandurand Elementary.

Dandurand was a Kwantlen First Nation elder and advocate for Indigenous rights, who died in 2023. The school that bears her name is expected to open in the fall of 2025.

All this school building and expanding activity took place because 91Ô­´´'s schools have been bursting at the seams. For three years running up to 2023, enrolment grew by 1,000 or more new students per year. 

In 2024, that slowed down, if only slightly. This year, total enrolment rose by 860 students in the official count presented to the school board in October.

That's still the equivalent of adding about two medium-sized elementary schools or a full middle school to the district.