Kindergarten registration open
Online registration for kindergarten in the Prince George school district is underway. On Jan. 28, the day School District 57 opened its website to receive online registration forms for kindergarten next fall, the names of more than 660 students who will turn five on or before Dec. 31, 2020, were received that day.
Parents are required to submit proof of age with a birth certificate, proof of address and a BC Care Card/BC Services Card to complete the registration process.
School District 57 board of education chair Tim Bennett said the district is on track for at least 1,000 kindergarten students in the 2020-21 school year.
“We had 660-plus kindergarten registrations on the first day and that is about on par with what we normally receive, but if the last few years are any indication that number is going to continue to grow right up to September 30th when the final count happens,” said Bennett.
“(The first day of registration) is big rush for families or those who perhaps are choosing one of our choice programs because French immersion spaces at Spruceland Traditional and Polaris Montessori are all capped at 40 to 60 students, depending on the school.”
The other schools that offer French immersion beginning at kindergarten are École Lac des Bois (maximum of 60 students) and College Heights Elementary (maximum of 40 students).
The catchment area of all choice schools is the entire school district. Priority will be given to families who already have siblings attending the choice school. The names of the other applicants who registered before Tuesday's deadline for entry into choice programs were placed in an envelope, to be randomly drawn in a lottery until all classroom seats are filled.
Those whose names were not drawn were placed on a wait list. Parents will be informed as to whether they've been accepted into the school or if they are on the wait list.
Those who did not get chosen are required to register their child at their catchment school and if they want to attend an out-of-catchment school they must then go through the district's transfer process.
Several Prince George elementary schools – Edgewood, Glenview, Hart Highlands, Heritage, Malaspina, Southridge, Springwood - expect their kindergarten classrooms will be close to full enrolment capacity and won't likely be accepting students from out of the catchment area.
This year, there were 12,894 students, up slightly from 12,792 in 2018-19, 12,610 in 2017-18 and 12,423 in 2016-17. Of the current school year total, 7,807 are attending elementary schools and 4,783 are in secondary schools.