By Sheldon Spackman

numbers are in

Student enrolment up for Red Deer Public, Catholic school divisions

Oct 2, 2019 | 3:25 PM

Student enrolment numbers are up this year for both of Red Deer’s major school districts.

Red Deer Public Schools is reporting a one per cent increase of 121 students for 2019-20 to 11,239 students.

“This is a positive sign of our economy and it’s encouraging to see new families moving into Red Deer,” said Stu Henry, Superintendent of Schools.

Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School saw the biggest increase in the district with 89 new students. Barrie Wilson Elementary saw 66 more students this year and Mattie McCullough Elementary, Don Campbell and Central Middle each saw a more than 30 student increase.

“Public education continues to be the choice of education for our community, as evident in the increase in our enrolment numbers this year,” said Board Chair Nicole Buchanan. “We pride ourselves on welcoming all students and providing them with the best educational opportunities.”

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Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) is reporting an increase of 144 students this year (1.4 per cent), bringing its student population to 10,455.

“We continue to see an enrolment increase each year and we are happy to see families choosing Catholic education,” says Paul Mason, Superintendent at Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools.

Red Deer Catholic is excited to note that the modernization of St. Patrick’s Community School is expected to be complete by the end of November.

Chinook’s Edge School Division notes an increase of 38 students for a population of 11,122.

“The really good news is that we planned for this and that’s pretty much what our numbers came in at, so we’re really pleased with that,” says Superintendent Kurt Sacher. “We’re just really pleased with our processes where we predict numbers and those numbers come in accurately. It just sets us up for success when it comes to planning and budgeting. So we’re very pleased overall and we’re glad that we’re continuing to be a growing school jurisdiction.”

At Wolf Creek Public Schools, Superintendent Jayson Lovell reports 7,553 students this year, up 70 students from last year and 51 more than projected.

“The numbers reflect certainly growth that we’ve seen in Wolf Creek over a number of years,” explains Lovell. “It’s a balanced picture across the school division. Lacombe and Blackfalds still remain really positive for growth trend and I think that’s been consistent over many years and even despite our projections, they came in higher for the most part and even our rural communities, our enrolment remains quite consistent.”

Total student enrolment for Wild Rose Public Schools for 2019-20 is 4,653, which is 93 fewer than at the start of last year.

“In terms of budgeting, we ended up with 46 more full time equivalent students than what we had projected in May when preparing our 2019-20 budget,” says Superintendent Brad Volkman. “These additional funds are being used to add staffing to schools where class sizes were larger than anticipated.”