Sprott Shaw makes move to take advantage of SkyTrain

Sprott Shaw College's new lab/classroom for training licensed practical nurses at its Sixth Street campus in New Westminster.

Sprott Shaw

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Sprott Shaw has a new name, a new look and a new location in New Westminster.

The private career college officially opened its new, bigger digs on the fourth floor of old land titles building at 88 Sixth St., near Royal Avenue on Wednesday.

It’s 9,000 square feet, which is 2,000 more than at its old location on Eighth Avenue at 12th Street, which was highly visible to drivers on those streets but difficult to access for students without a vehicle.

The new campus is a short walk from both the New Westminster and Columbia SkyTrain stations.

“About a year ago we decided the location wasn’t optimal on Eighth Avenue because it wasn’t close to the SkyTrain stations. So that was a big factor in moving closer, probably the biggest,” said Sharon Stapleton, director of the New Westminster campus.

It’s the first of the college’s outlets to incorporate the company’s new branding, which includes dropping “community” from its name, creation of a new logo and switching colours from black and red to blue, black and purple. New West will be the first to be decked out in those tones.

“This is a complete new build out. Everything is brand new, all the furniture, all our labs have been updated and changed. It’s a brand new campus,” said Stapleton.

In her opinion, the biggest wow factor in the new digs is the training lab for licensed practical nurses. It simulates a hospital ward complete with beds, patients lists, oxygen and mannequins specifically made for students so they can practise doing injections, installing catheters and other nursing procedures. The lab also has a teaching area with state-of-the-art visual equipment so the students know all the details of the anatomy they’re dealing with when doing those procedures.

The early education program will be a combined lab and classroom so the students can learn how to do things like make healthy snacks for the kids, do creative arts and storytelling.

“We’re proud of how that works and is functional for teaching the students,” said Stapleton.

Sprott Shaw’s New West campus offers 10 to 15 programs with around 20 teaching staff, mostly part-time, and 130 students with the capability of accommodating more than 200.