Saskatoon public school sets enrolment record this fall

After two years of COVID-19 keeping kids at home and away from school, classrooms in Saskatoon are full of new students this fall.

Saskatoon Public Schools has released its official enrolment numbers for 2022-23 and, for the first time ever, the largest school division in the province topped 27,000 students.

“It’s like adding a couple of good-sized elementary schools to our operation in a single fall,” said board chair Colleen MacPherson.

“We are seeing significant growth this year, especially in our elementary schools.”

Saskatoon Public has 786 more students enrolled in Grades 1-8 than it did during the previous school year. Almost 100 are kindergarten students, and the division is also seeing record pre-kindergarten registrations.

MacPherson attributed the spike in enrolment to new Canadian families settling in Saskatoon.

“I think what happened was because of the pandemic. A lot of people who wanted to come to Canada were delayed. Now things have opened up,” she said.

“The majority are coming from India, countries like China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.”

The increase in newcomers to the school division this fall is highlighted by the Saskatoon Public Schools Newcomer Centre, which assisted a record 776 families with settling into new schools in August and September.

The centre helps new Canadian families register for school and have their children’s language level assessed.

MacPherson said the unprecedented growth needs to be matched by more funding from the provincial government.

“With this significant gain in enrolment, we expect the provincial government will once again make a mid-year funding adjustment, so we have the resources we need to support all students,” she said.

While elementary enrolment saw a significant spike, high schools experienced a slight dip in enrolment, dropping from 8,784 in 2021 to 8,776 this year.