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Status quo for school enrolments

Enrolments in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) and Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division met expectations and projections according to division administrators.
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Enrolments in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) and Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division met expectations and projections according to division administrators. 

The Cornerstone Division which represents 38 school facilities in southeast Saskatchewan registered a total of 8,145 students for the first week of the new school year, an increase of 76 from the Sept. 30, 2015, official enrolment figures. 

Shelley Toth, the division’s business manager and chief financial officer, said the official enrolment figures are noted on Sept. 30, so the current registration figures could slide up or down slightly between now and the last day of this month. 

“The figures do not include students enrolled in Cyberstone (the division’s online school) or those in the division who are being home-schooled,” Toth said. 

Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) is no longer the largest in terms of school population, being supplanted by the Weyburn Comprehensive School(WCS), since the Weyburn senior school now includes all junior high as well as high school students. 

“All students in Weyburn from Grade 7 to 12 are now in WCS,” Toth added. That brings the school’s enrolment to 905 this year. 

ECS is home to 764 students so far this year, a slight increase of five compared with last year’s Sept. 30 official enrolment number. 

In the Holy Family system, the five schools in the division are showing a slight increase said Gwen Keith, the division’s director of education. 

“We have 1,334 students this year which is up about 13 compared with the closing enrolment numbers we had at the end of the last school year in June,” she said. 

Although she did not have registration numbers for each school, Keith said the overall division will be operating pretty well on a status quo basis with slight increases in enrolment at Sacred Heart/Sacré Coeur in Estevan and St. Olivier School in Radville. 

The division’s second school in Estevan is St. Mary’s School while they also have St. Michael’s School in Weyburn and another school in Wilcox. 

“We will have the formal numbers available to all after the official Sept. 30 count is taken,” she said, adding that it was heartening to see that there would be no drop off in registration in spite of the current economic situation in southeast Saskatchewan. 

On the public school side, Toth said Hillcrest School in Estevan has witnessed a decrease in population, going from 148 students down to 128 heading into the new school year. Westview School has also seen a decrease of a dozen students, and are now sitting at 201 students, while Pleasantdale School will not have a noticeable decrease since their student population has dipped only slightly from 217 to 214. 

Spruce Ridge School in Estevan saw a barely discernable increase of one, moving from 429 students last year to 430 this time around. 

Schools within the immediate area showed slight improvements in registered student numbers with the exception of Lampman where the enrolment in the kindergarten to Grade 12 facility has dropped from 223 to 217. 

Weldon School in Bienfait which offers kindergarten to Grade 8 classes has a registration increase of five, moving from 126 to 131, while Midale Central School, which offers a full program up to Grade 12, is noting a slight increase of three students, leaving them with an enrolment number of 178. 

Macoun School, a kindergarten to Grade 6 school, has seen an increase of one this year, giving them an enrolment of 53. 

Keith said that in the Holy Family RCSSD, they were able to present a balanced budget by downsizing their central office space and employee numbers and focusing on several efficiencies. That will not negatively effect ongoing programming or future plans, she explained. 

“We have our priorities and we are working on them and that includes Catholic distinctiveness, and our theme for this year, being a Year of Mercy, will see both the schools and the church basing activities around that message.” 

Keith said the division is also “digging deeper into 21st century learning that connects us with other schools and businesses and aligning with the provincial curriculum. We have done research on leadership and changes within the school communities and how to create more opportunities for our kids,” she said. 

The Holy Family director said their division continues to enjoy a strong working relationship with their Cornerstone public school division friends and neighbours which makes planning much easier for both. 

“We now have our central office under one roof in Weyburn, and we have a hard-working 10-trustee board,” said Keith who is entering her fourth year as director of the local separate school division.