There are new kids in town, the numbers are up and the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division has launched another academic season of promise. Shelley Rowein, the division's director of education, told The Mercury last week that there is an increase in enrolment numbers as well as teaching staff this year as Holy Family welcomes St. Augustine School of Notre Dame into the fold with its 48 students and four teachers/administrator and support staff. The French immersion program at Sacred Heart School in Estevan is also moving forward positively with 101 youngsters in kindergarten to Grade 8 enrolled. As far as administrative changes are concerned, the division has welcomed the arrival of assistant director Norm Casavant while Mary Ellen Bareth has taken over the principalship at Sacred Heart. Chad Fingler remains principal at St. Mary's School in Estevan."Like the other school divisions, we're waiting for more information on the province's new funding model," said Rowein, noting that Holy Family is wanting to move forward by issuing tenders for a major renovation project at St. Michael's School in Weyburn with a construction start this fall. There were just a few teaching positions that needed to be shifted around this year to accommodate enrolment increases in some locations and there was one late teacher resignation with that position now being filled. "We had a few leave requests, so those positions have been filled as well," said Rowein, who added that split classes have been identified and accommodated. The kindergarten and Grade 1 French immersion classes are growing in numbers, she said. Although the numbers are not official yet, Holy Family noted that the enrolment at Sacred Heart is up by 18 this year compared with last year's official figure at the end of the school year in June. There are 101 students in the French program and 142 registered in the English language courses for a total of 243. At St. Mary's School, the enrolment is 230, which indicates a decrease of 11 compared with last year, for a net increase of nine in Estevan's schools. "If we didn't take St. Augustine into consideration, the enrolment increase for the school division would be 15," said Wendy Pitrie, who gathered the numbers for the division's central office located in Weyburn. Adding the St. Augustine students, the increase is 63 students. The student numbers in Weyburn's St. Dominic and St. Michael's Schools are up by a total of six while Radville's St. Olivier School shows a net increase of two, to 144 students. The total enrolment in Holy Family's six schools is now 1,086.
