Schools across Fort McMurray are seeing increases in their enrollment this school year.
The Fort McMurray Catholic and Public school districts are looking at around six per cent increases each from last year.
FMCSD Superintendent George McGuigan tells Mix News more and more kids are calling Wood Buffalo home which is leading to the rise.
“We have more students entering the system because of our young population than are leaving at the end, so that’s an automatic increase, but there are still families moving into the community, there’s still opportunities for employment for people.”
Elsie Yanik Catholic School is expected to see the biggest increase as they enter their second year.
McGuigan says families living in neighbourhoods around the school are starting to transfer their children.
“When you have a new school, inside a new subdivision, as more people move in they see the school and they enroll.”
As for the FMPSD, they’re also looking at a sizable increase. It is, however, less growth then they had in the 2018-19 school year.
Superintendent Doug Nicholls adds teachers have been working with bigger class sizes.
“Last year we grew by 10 per cent, so that meant another 500 – 600 students. We’ll do less than that this year but we do estimate it’s going to be around six per cent, that will put us between 350-400 increase in enrollment.”
Nicholls says many of the additional students will be attending cole McTavish which opened their high school wing this year.
