'A new beginning': Modern home for Mackay Centre, Philip E. Layton Schools inaugurated in NDG

The ribbon was cut on a new $30-million, state-of-the-art school in Montreal's west end Tuesday the new home of the Mackay Centre and Philip E. Layton Schools, a modern building that at last meets the needs of English-language students with disabilities.

Thevast, provincially funded complex it's the size of six hockey rinks opened to students at the start of the school year.

It is the only schoolof its kind to offer specialized educational and rehabilitative services in English, serving students from all of Quebec's English-language school boards.

"When I came to the new building, I was so excited," said Jordan Joshua O'Rourke, 11, who loves how"big and bright" the building is, equipped with new technology.

It's a place, he said, wherehis fellow students get to have "more fun and more room."

The building has also impressed his classmate, Zoe Congonidis, 11.

"These people did a really good job in making this lovely school after a long time of waiting," said Congonidis. She points to the floor-to-ceiling windows and modern furniture.

"We can say, 'Thank you, for everything.'"

The building housing the two schools is onTerrebonne Street, just east of Cavendish Boulevard in Notre-Dame-de-Grce, built on a disused soccer field owned by the English Montreal School Board (EMSB).

Out ofthe old, into the new

The two schools were consolidated into one rented building on Dcarie Boulevardabout four years ago.

Although it hadbeen retrofitted with some adaptations for children's special needs, school officials said,the small, aging structure was inadequate.

Construction of the new institution began in November 2016.

While there are a few finishing touches left to do in the coming month, the building opened in time for the start of the school year. Melanie Philip, who teaches Grade 5 and 6, says the transition has gone well.

"The atmosphere is just mind-blowing when it comes to seeing the joy in the kids' faces," she said.

Customized from the ground up

The new buildingaccommodates about170 students with developmental, intellectual, auditory or visual impairment,as well as students with communication disorders and other disabilities, the EMSB said in a newsrelease.

It isfully accessible, with four elevatorsand a ramp that links both the main and second floors.

On the ground floor, there are 32 specialized classrooms and adapted washrooms. There is an enclosed courtyardand a 25-metre, indoor therapeutic swimming pool.

The second floor housesoffices, medical equipment, therapy rooms, nursing stations, classrooms for the visually impaired and computer labs even a balcony that allows visually impaired students to go out into the fresh air.

Outside, there are various play structures, a mini synthetic soccer field, a patio, tables and a playground adapted to the needs of childrenwith motor, visual or hearing impairments.

'A new beginning'

For Joanne Charron, the colourful, accessorized and fully accessible buildingis a "culmination of everything we worked for."

Charron, whose son graduated last year,chairs the Mackay Centre's governing board and serves as the EMSB's parent commissioner for special education services.

She got involved in lobbying the government for the new building, she said, not just for her son, "but for everyone like my son. To have a place to go, to learn and to grow."

For the students, she said, "It's a new beginning."

With files from Antoni Nerestant