(Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Dylana Milobar

BACK TO SCHOOL

Multiple schools in Kamloops surprised with more students than expected

Sep 3, 2019 | 10:05 AM

KAMLOOPS — After a bit of organized mayhem, students across the Kamloops-Thompson School District made their way back to class today.

The final tally has yet to come in, but School District 73 Superintendent Alison Sidow says it appears many schools in Kamloops were surprised with more students than last year.

“Particularly in elementary. Valleyview-east seems to be burgeoning. We have a number of principals reporting that they had many more registrations than they anticipated,” Sidow explains. “For instance, I think there were 30 additional students at Marion Schilling that we had not accounted for.”

Taking in much of the downtown population, Beattie Elementary School Principal Blair Lloyd says they had a busy morning of introductions.

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“We had a number of registrations last week. We have more than 40 new students coming in, plus more than 40 kindergarten students. So more than 80 of our students are brand new to our school.”

French Immersion numbers went up as well this year, with 1,238 students signed up in S.D. 73.

High schools in Kamloops had a similar first-day rush, with Valleyview and Sa-Hali Secondary up around 1,000 students each, and about 900 students enrolled at South Kamloops Secondary.

“We’re seeing a lot of pressure on the south shore in our high schools,” explains Sidow, “In fact, we’ll be looking at adding portables at all three of our large high schools on the south shore in the very near future.”

Meantime, on the city’s North Shore, the re-vamped Westsyde Elementary has eased overcrowding.

“We ripped it right down to the studs; it’s been completely renovated,” says Sidow, “Large classrooms, and the kids are there for the first time today so I’m sure that it’s a very happy occasion.”

The slew of new students will also be accompanied by some report card changes.

Several Kamloops schools are taking part in a provincial pilot project to measure progress in a new way. Sidow says it will favour detailed, descriptive updates instead of letter grades for elementary students.

“Report cards only give you a very small picture of how a student is doing,” she says. “When we give more anecdotal reports, and we put students on a scale that says they’re meeting expectations, but this is what they need to do to improve to be exceeding — that gives parents more information.”

Depending on the pilot’s success, the District hopes to make a decision later this year on how K through 7 reporting will be done.