With only a few days before the new school year begins, student enrollment is reported to be climbing “by the hour” in the Hanover School Division with 8,302 students registered, as of the end of August.
Superintendent Shelley Amos says that is 64 more students than the division had budgeted for during the 2022-2023 school year.
“We’ve had a lot of students who have been homeschooled come back to us,” Amos says, explaining the high registration numbers. “Some new growth in our communities, people moving into our areas. Also, a higher-than-normal amount of immigration, we’ve had about 70 students come in through the immigration process.”
Amos notes those students are coming from several different countries.
“We certainly have an amount from Ukraine, but I did not add up the numbers to know the percentage, but it’s not the majority,” she reports. “We have also from places like Brazil, Philippines, Belize, Mexico I saw on the list, U.S.A., I think I saw Jamaica on the list. So quite a diverse range actually of families and students coming to join us.”
Students often have good language skills when arriving from other countries, Amos notes. She adds that Eastman Immigrant Services is always helpful if translation services are required for the first few weeks of new families coming to the country and the school division.
As for which schools are seeing the most growth, Amos says the greatest increase is noticed in Steinbach.
“In Steinbach, Southwood and Stoneybrook Middle in particular, have had some growth” she says. “Clearspring (Middle School) has also had some growth. Our communities of Mitchell and Grunthal are still a little bit less than budgeted for.”
Kindergarten enrollment is on target with expectations of approximately 600 students.
September 7th is the first day of classes for most students in the Hanover School Division.
Tue, Apr 16, 1:00 PM
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