The bell will ring at Ralph Bell Elementary School in Kamloops today after 12 long years.

While the K to 7 school in Valleyview was closed in 2010 due to declining enrolment, the Kamloops-Thompson School District voted in June last year to reopen the school as a way to help address increasing student enrolment at both Juniper Ridge Elementary and Marion Schilling Elementary.

“A school reopening is about coming together to create a place of welcoming, care, and belonging,” Principal Tiffany Hawkins said.

“I can already feel this positive energy and I am so excited for the first day of school.”

While it was closed, the school building was used by daycares and other community groups, creating what SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon called a community hub centre in Valleyview.

“Now that it is opening again as a school, I talked to Principal Hawkins about it and I said, ‘what are you most excited about?’ And she said they are just in awe of the beauty of the environment. It has received an entire facelift,” Nixon said.

“If you look at the outside, it is newly, freshly painted and the inside is brand new in terms of new furniture, new resources. It is all repainted, refloored, they have a new playground and they are going to have 72 daycare spaces as of Spring 2023.”

Nixon told NL News the school will reopen its doors with 22 staff to serve about 200 families in Valleyview, Rose Hill, Juniper Ridge, and Sun Rivers. She says about 40 families have already been through the newly renovated school last week.

“I’d say we had a really good start,” Nixon added. “There is lots of growth and lots of passion and excitement around the new school. It is a great place for students to learn and you can tell that they are excited to be back.”

While the school opens at 10:30 a.m. today, SD73 says the official opening and open house will be held on Thursday, Sept. 15, at 5 p.m. with more details expected soon.