Skip to content

A Schoolhouse Gets a New Home

City leaders found a new home for an old schoolhouse. Then, they picked up the building and moved it!

A small yellow school building sits on cement blocks and is surrounded by an orange fence.

Courtesy of Renewal Development, www.renewaldevelopment.ca

An old schoolhouse was about to be knocked down to make way for a new school. But now, the schoolhouse has a new home and a bright future.

The yellow schoolhouse was built in Vancouver, Canada, in 1912, but city leaders decided recently that it was time to build a new school on that spot. After the city made plans to destroy the schoolhouse, the government of the Squamish Nation, an Indigenous (native) nation, stepped up. The nation said it would take the building and use it as a school at X̱wemelch’stn, which is a Squamish land reserve.

City leaders were thrilled. They wanted a new building, but destroying the old one would have created a lot of waste. The Squamish Nation needed a school. At X̱wemelch’stn, the schoolhouse would have a whole new life.

It’s not easy to move a building, but it can be done. In August, the entire schoolhouse was lifted onto a trailer and driven to a barge (a type of ship). The barge transported the building across the English Bay to another trailer, which took it to X̱wemelch’stn.

The Squamish Nation will use the building for early childhood education and to teach Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim (the Squamish language).

Check out this video of the schoolhouse in transit!

Courtesy of Renewal Development, www.renewaldevelopment.ca

How do you move a building? Very carefully!

Fun Fact Icon

Fun Fact

Five photos of different buildings sitting on trailers and ready to be moved.

Visual China Group, John Althouse—AFP/Getty Images; Fletcher6, Wolfe House & Building Movers (CC BY-SA 3.0); Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

It’s not unusual to move a whole building!

The heaviest building ever moved in one piece was the Fu Gang Building in China. The building weighs 16,690 tons (15,140 metric tons). It took 11 days to move it a distance of 117 feet (35.6 meters).

What’s Your Favorite?

It’s back to school time! What’s your favorite subject? 

In a recent survey, U.S. teens were asked about their favorite school subjects. Just under one quarter of the teens said math is the subject they like best. Fourteen percent of the teens said they like science best. 

You can check out the rest of the results in the pie chart below.

A pie chart shows teens’ favorite school subjects.

© Davide Angelini/stock.adobe.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Teens were asked to name their favorite school subjects.

Get Schooled on School

David Mutua—AU/UN IST Photo, © Samrat35, Olga Buiacova/Dreamstime.com, © GCIS/South African Government (CC BY-ND 2.0), © monkeybusinessimages—iStock, SolStock—E+, Chris Jackson—Chris Jackson Collection, skynesher—E+/Getty Images, © Agarianna76/Shutterstock.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Have you ever thought about why kids go to school? What were schools like 100 years ago? And what would it be like to go to school in a different country?

There’s so much to learn at Britannica School!

Word of the Day Icon

Word of the Day

structure

Part of speech:

noun

Definition:

 : something (such as a house, tower, bridge, etc.) that is built by putting parts together and that usually stands on its own

Definitions provided by
Merriam-Webster Logo
Game Icon

Play

Can you fill in all the words?

O
O
O
O
O

In Case You Missed It

Some of the world’s most hilarious animals are finalists in the 2024 Comedy Wildlife Awards.
October 10, 2024
Udoh Ebaide Joy is the first Black African woman to ride a motorcycle solo from East Africa to West Africa.
October 7, 2024
In the future, this humanoid robot could be helpful around the house.
October 3, 2024
When a visitor dropped a bag of Cheetos on the floor of a cave, big problems emerged.
September 30, 2024