Westside unlikely to see French immersion expanded soon—

A late-entry French immersion program in West Kelowna has been put on the back burner for now.

“It was suggested that we could put late immersion Grade 4 or 6 into an elementary school on the Westside, but I don’t think we can do that right now,” said board chairwoman Moyra Baxter.

The main concern is the rapid rate at which the Westside is growing, she said.

“We really need another high school on the Westside,” said Baxter. “If we did change the grade configuration that we want to put throughout the school district, the schools in the district that are the most affected are the high schools, because they are having a grade added.”

The district plans to change the grade configuration of all schools in the Central Okanagan so elementary school will go to Grade 5 instead of Grade 6, middle schools will be Grades 6-8 and high school will be Grades 9-12.

Before the district moves forward with offering late-entry French immersion on the Westside, it needs to consider where those students would be accommodated once the grade configuration is changed, said Baxter.

“You can’t look at these things in isolation,” she said. “Without putting a large number of portables on it, Mount Boucherie (Secondary) could not accommodate Grade 9s, so this is where the problem is.”

At Wednesday’s board meeting, the school board will be hearing from staff about how to move forward.

Currently, entry into the French program is only available in kindergarten or Grade 1 in the Central Okanagan.

In West Kelowna, French immersion is offered at George Pringle Elementary.

The only two middle schools offering French immersion are KLO Middle and Dr. Knox Middle, and Kelowna Secondary School is the only high school in the district offering French immersion.

Earlier this year, a survey revealed the majority of respondents in the Central Okanagan were in favour of either Grade 4 or Grade 6 entry into French immersion.