It’s too early to be sure but it appears that enrolment is truly on the upswing in the Cowichan Valley school district.
There were smiles around the board of education table at the Sept. 6 meeting as district staff shared the promising news with trustees, who have had the thankless job in recent years of closing schools and cutting programs as student numbers declined.
“It’s only Day One but we do seem to be up,” said secretary-treasurer Jason Sandquist, saying that enrolment has already passed projections for this year.
“The numbers are healthy and Kindergarten to Grade 3 is where the growth is. We’re optimistic,” he said.
“It’s good news,” said schools superintendent Rod Allen. “In the last two years, we’ve grown by an entire elementary school.”
No figures were available at that time for what was happening in district secondary schools.
Sandquist also noted that among the new pupils are 11 children of refugee families.
A “snapshot” of district enrolments is taken by the education ministry on Sept. 30, and is used as a basis for annual district funding.