PRINCE ALBERT — The Prince Albert Catholic School Division's enrolment numbers have improved over last year according to the division's Sept. 30 enrolment report.
Education Director Lorel Trumier gave an update at the board's regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Those numbers show 3,198 students attending a PA Catholic school, which is an increase over the 3,070 in 2023.
“We're ecstatic about the increase of numbers in our school division,” Trumier said. “When you look at how our province is shifting and changing, we've seen that growth in other larger cities, but this really is an indicator of not only the growth in our province but the success of our school division and (we are) happy that we have such large numbers of students coming towards our school division.”
The increase in enrolment includes 20 homeschooled students, who are still credited to the PA Catholic School Division by the Ministry of Education. There are 183 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten courses across the division and 206 in kindergarten. The total English enrolment is 2,112, while the total French enrolment is 883.
French Immersion has consistently made up 30 per cent of students enrolled in the division.
"When you think the population is growing statistically that average will change too,” Trumier said. “We're consistent year over year about 30 per cent, but that's 30 per cent of a larger number.
"We do have increasing numbers of students seeking French immersion,” she said.
Another positive, she noted, was an increase in registrations for Kindergarten and Pre-K in the division. She also said that an increase in students and families seeking out programming in the division.
"I would think [there are] really three categories in general terms. One, we would have seen an increase of students that may be due to immigration,” she said.
“We certainly some see some of that…. We also have an increased number of students looking for our programs, and thirdly, we just have students that are moving into the area that are from other parts of the province, and so we see that general change as well.”
St. Anne School had 612 students with 295 English students and 317 French. Ecole St. Mary High School had 1,048 total students with 795 students registered in English and 258 registered in French. St. Michael School which is split between English and Michif, had 181 students registered in English and 24 students registered in Michif.
Trumier could equate the growth to several factors including programming.
“I think it's the diverse programming and opportunities we provide within a faith-based environment and if people are seeking that with the great results, we know how to get them there,” Trumier said.
St. John School had 364 students registered, St. Francis School had 303 students registered, St. Catherine School had 153 students registered and Holy Cross had 310 registered.
Enrolment on Sept. 30, 2023, in the Catholic Division, was 3,070 and in 2022 it was 2,982.
The enrolment on Sept. 30 reported to the Ministry of Education helps determine the funding each division receives.
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