Glen Vienneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 16/00) - There is a sense of excitement brewing for Yellowknife Catholic Schools' staff and students gearing up to return to Weledeh Catholic school for a new school year.

That's because when classes begin on Aug. 28, they will be settling into their new and improved school.

"That excitement will help to offset, we hope, some of the stress of having to get set up for a new school year in just a few days time," said Annalise Van Ham, assistant superintendent of business for the Yellowknife Catholic Schools.

"They'll be moving into their new space for good now, so I think in that way it will be exciting," said Van Ham.

Work continues at the new school, which already has 250 students registered for this fall.

"It's going great. We're on a tight timeline. The construction manager and all of the trades are just working tremendously to meet our schedule," she said.

"By then, everything will be settled and people will be enjoying their new spaces, I'm sure."

"Our main focus is to make sure that all of our instructional and administration spaces are ready for the staff and the students," she said, adding that contractors will still be working on the new gymnasium well into fall.

Both the administration areas and classrooms are expected to be organized by the end of this week.

"The neat thing for children coming back or for the staff is that they're going to drive down that street where you used to have Weledeh standing in front of you, it's just gone now," said Van Ham.

"The whole face of that lot and that whole property and the playground for the children has changed so much, (so) dramatically."