by Kyle Wells reporter@prpeak.com Enrolment figures for the 2011/2012 school year suggest continued decline in numbers of school-age children and dwindling student populations for specific schools.
This year, School District 47 has 132 kindergarten children registered for enrolment, compared to 279 grade 12 students for the year. District superintendent of schools Jay Yule said this is a significant drop in enrolment that is evidence of the overall trend, which has been generating the reconfiguration of the district that has been taking place over the last 10 years.
Next year, grade eight students will attend Brooks Secondary School rather than Oceanview Middle School, the number of which, when combined with this year’s grade eight students who will also be going to Brooks as grade nine students, will total 271. That number is still less than this year’s graduating class. Yule said he expects the population of Brooks to continue to decline over the next few years.
Brooks’ enrolment figures are thus far higher than expected, with 861 students currently registered, compared to the expected 780. Last year the school had 824 students. Yule explained at a recent Powell River Board of Education meeting that solidifying the numbers at Brooks always takes a little while, but that the final number will most likely be within 10 or 12 students of where it stands now.
Texada Island Elementary School is notable for having the lowest number of students of any school in the district and nearly half of the student population it had last year. Currently, 18 students are registered, up from the projected 11 students but down considerably from the 31 students the school had last year.
Yule said the declining enrolment at Texada Elementary is the continuation of a trend the board is well aware of. It is committed to providing neighbourhood schools and therefore to keeping the school open.
