(File photo/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Enrolment projection

Horizon School Division anticipating similar enrolment numbers for 2025-26

Jan 29, 2025 | 11:03 AM

Enrolment numbers for Horizon School Division are expected to be similar in the fall.

Director of Education Kevin Garinger told northeastNOW enrolment for the current school year started at just under 6,700 students. Some later registrations pushed that number to over 6,700 as the year progressed.

“We’ll anticipate having what we would see to be a very static enrolment (for 2025-26) but possibly some growth as well as we’ve continued to experience over the last number of years.”

Garinger said when he started the division had approximately 6,400 students, and enrolment went up and down and seems to have stabilized somewhat. Overall, he’s pleased with the projected enrolment of 6,684 students for next year and admits it may increase in September as it did for the current year.

Communities like Humboldt and Lanigan have seen enrolment growth and while some of the smaller centres have had a bit of a drop, Garinger said overall it’s pretty steady across the board.

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“Generally speaking, our small schools are holding their own which is a great thing,” Garinger said. “It allows us to do more to provide additional supports and options for them, and that’s critical.”

He said having stable enrolment allows the division to provide those supports to give students the same opportunities across the board.

Garinger also discussed the provincial assessment plan which focuses on Grades 1-3 reading, Grades 4, 7, and 10 reading and writing, and Grades 5 and 9 mathematics.

“The fact that we’ve got some clear direction around the fact that there is going to be assessments at the various levels and tied to curriculum I think is good,” Garinger said.

The focus on reading is critical, said Garinger, and if you want to improve your skills in any area – whether it be sports, music, or in this case reading — it takes practice.

“There’s a major skill in reading. It involves a number of different aspects that we need to look deeply at to help support that reading growth,” said Garinger.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com