Punjabi school expands into new home

June 10th, 2006 by admin

A long line of students from Dasmesh Punjabi school wound through classrooms, up and down stairwells and into the soccer field at Valley Christian School on Tuesday as the Punjabi youths explored their new stomping grounds for next year.

Dasmesh school, which is home to more than 400 students either born in or born to natives of India’s Punjab province, needed a bigger campus for its growing student body, and with an enrollment of only 75 students, Valley Christian is moving to a smaller location at 32715 Cherry Avenue in Mission this fall.

Smiles and expressions of welcome were exchanged during the tour as students and teachers from both private schools got a glimpse of what life will be like next school year.

“The reason we organized this tour is in a spirit of good will; to wish them well at their new home for the next school year and for years to come,” said Beverly Johnson, a member of the board of directors for Christian Valley and a teacher-on-call for Dasmesh. “I wanted Valley to meet who’s coming in because there’s mystery. The students are very well behaved- it’s a good school, Dasmesh.”

Excited expressions on the faces of the Punjabi students as they looked at each classroom, lab and common area told the story of the impact the new campus is going to have on them. Dasmesh, which covers Grades kindergarten through 10, has had to split its student body between two Abbotsford campuses for more than ten years, and it was clear from talking to the teachers that space has been a major issue.

“It’s cool. It’s bigger,” said Grade 7 Dasmesh teacher Jaspal Dhaliwal as he helped supervise the 100 pupils from Grades 3 to 7 working their way around the school. “I teach science, and now students will have bigger science labs. We had a bigger gym over there [at the former campus], but other than that, the building is newer and the classrooms at the other campus were mostly portables.”

Grade 7 student Aman Khangula, 12, was also impressed with the new digs, and contrasted the Christian Valley campus with the Dasmesh school’s.

“We didn’t have that much room,” she said. “It will be more fun here because we will have more room so we can play.”

Dasmesh students in Grades 3 and up will make the move to the new campus this fall, while Grades 1 and 2 will remain on the old campus until September of 2007. The Punjabi school’s multicultural staff follow all the standards set out by B.C.’s English-based curriculum, but also offer classes in Punjabi heritage and language as well as Shabad Kirtan, the classical form of Sikh music.

Valley Christian School, which has called its Matsqui Flats campus at 5930 Riverside Street home for the past 11 years, will share its new Mission campus with the North Valley Baptist Church. The groundbreaking for the new school next door to the Baptist church was June 4.

By Kate Webb
Source: The Abbotsford News (www.abbynews.com)
June 10, 2006

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