Enrolment up in North Van as students head back to school

It’s that time of year, when the last gasp of summer mingles with the anticipation of heading back to the classroom.

More than 23,000 school-age kids will head back to school next week in public schools in North and West Vancouver.

In the North Vancouver School District, enrolment is up this year.

While about 80 new students were expected this year, over the summer there were more new students registered – 274 in total, according to Lisa Dalla Vecchia, spokesperson for the school district, bringing enrolment up more than 16,000 this year. About half of those new students have arrived in North Vancouver from other countries.

New enrolments are also driving an uptick in English Language Learner students. About nine percent of all North Vancouver students are expected to be ELL students this year.

In addition, the school district is also anticipating enrolment of about 580 fee-paying international students this year.

In terms of where those students will be learning, schools in the city centre and Lonsdale corridor continue to see the fastest growth. That has meant a number of portables at local schools. There are currently 33 portables in use in North Vancouver schools – 30 used as classrooms and two leased to childcare providers.

Among the new capital projects in the works to address increasing enrolment are plans for both a $9-million six-classroom expansion to Lynn Valley Elementary and a new $64-million 585-student elementary at the site of the former Cloverley School. Construction isn’t expected to start on either of those projects until 2024, but there is likely to be an increased presence of contractors doing preparatory work at the Cloverley site in the coming months, according to the school district. That work could include everything from drilling test holes for geotechnical reports to checking for hazardous materials in the old building.

In West Vancouver, enrolment is expected to be similar to last year, at about 7,200 students, including about 370 international students. Most new registrations over the summer have been from West Vancouver families, said Liz Hill, assistant superintendent, including an increase in students whose families are coming in under diplomatic, student permit, work permit or refugee status.

The number of ELL students in the district is expected to be similar to last year – around 1,400 students.

In terms of budget, the West Vancouver School District has had to work at stretching its dollars, in part because its provincial operating funding per pupil remains one of the lowest amounts in the province, at $9,533 per student, according to the school district.

West Vancouver tends to have fewer students who trigger extra dedicated funding and fewer factors like geographic isolation, low or fast-growing enrolment that can also result in a funding bump, said Spencer Capier, president of the West Vancouver Teachers' Association. Capier said he worries the biggest impacts will continue to be felt in the amount of specialized support available to help classroom teachers.

Across the province, another change coming this year involves what families of some high school students will see on their report cards. Under the changes, students in Grades 8 and 9 will no longer be given letter grades and percentages on report cards. Instead, students in their first two years of high school will be given a description on a four-point provincial “proficiency scale” to indicate how they are doing in class. Students in senior secondary Grades 10 to 12 will still receive traditional letter grades and marks.

Students across the Lower Mainland head back to school on Tuesday, Sept. 5.