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School enrolment on par in P.A., kindergarten numbers up

Sep 29, 2011 | 6:25 AM

Enrolment is on par for schools in Prince Albert.

Both the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division (SRSD) and the Prince Albert Roman Catholic Separate School Division (PARCSSD) are close to their projected enrolments.

“It’s kind of what we had expected, the margin might be roughly about a 20 student margin, but that’s an easy number to justify either way,” said Lorel Trumier, director of education for the PARCSSD. She explained the number is small and could be a result of a change of only a couple of students at each school.

“We are very close to projection, we spend quite a bit of time in the spring trying to determine what we expect our enrolments to be,” said Robert Bratvold, director of education for the SRSD. He said they are less than 50 students under their projections, but it is significantly better than last year when they were off by 200 students.

One area where both divisions saw a beneficial surprise was in kindergarten enrolment.

“We had some kindergarten programs where we were expecting 20 or 25 and we got 30 or 35, so that’s a surprise,” said Bratvold, explaining they had to add extra staff to some schools where they split the classes into two.

In the PARCSSD, St. John School is where they saw the largest leap in kindergarten – there are 50 youngsters enrolled.

“The kindergarten is where we are feeling that success in that school,” Trumier said.

The numbers could still fill out within the divisions.

“Some of our enrolment in some of our programs gradually develops throughout September – some of our alternative programs take a little while for students to return, Bratvold explained.

The enrolment snapshot that goes to the Ministry of Education will come out at the end of the week, and he said the numbers should be even closed by then.

Both divisions said they are pleased with enrolment.

klavoie@panow.com