It is good news for Francophone families in Kamloops as they will now have a permanent home for their school at École Collines-d’Or.

The Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (CSF) has bought a site that includes the former Oak Hills Elementary School after the B.C. provided over $2-million to help with the purchase. It says the site is large enough to allow for a future expansion to meet the needs of K-12 francophone students.

“In a country with two official languages, it’s essential that francophone students have the same access to a robust educational experience as their anglophone peers,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. “That’s why we are investing in a permanent school site for French-speaking students in Kamloops and will continue our work to find similar opportunities in other parts of the province.”

The CSF has been operating École Collines-d’Or, an elementary francophone school, on a short-term lease from the Kamloops-Thompson School District. It has an operating capacity of 88, with last year’s enrolment for grades K-8 was 87 students.

“We are very pleased with this announcement, which will further the CSF’s mission by providing stability for francophone students in Kamloops,” said Marie-Pierre Lavoie, president, CSF Board of Trustees, in a statement.

“The CSF is delighted that the collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Kamloops-Thompson School District has allowed the CSF to acquire a school site so that it can begin planning for the facilities required to provide K-12 francophone education.”

Oak Hills Elementary was built in 1981 with four classrooms, a staff room, administration office space and an activity room. It was closed by the Kamloops-Thompson School District in 2006 due to declining student enrolment.