School transfer requests accepted

Greater Victoria school district students who want to attend a school outside their catchment area can start applying for a transfer request today.

To apply for a transfer request, parents and guardians must provide proof of residential address and complete a form at the student’s current school. The deadline is 3 p.m. on Feb. 23.

Students who are attending a school outside their catchment area no longer automatically follow that school’s pathway to middle or secondary school. They must also apply for a transfer request.

The district has decided that if a school receives more transfer requests by grade than it can accommodate, the requests will be determined by lottery in accordance with its student enrolment priorities.

Priorities for enrolment start with re-enrolling students, then catchment-area siblings, catchment-area children, non-catchment siblings, non-catchment children and non-school district children. The priorities were approved in July and come into effect for the 2018-19 school year.

The process is not first-come, first-served. Parents don’t have to line up because the lottery means there’s no advantage to submitting an application first, the district said.

New students who wish to enrol for the September 2018 school year are encouraged to register at their catchment school during this time period. Parents and guardians must bring all required documents with them.

For more information, go to sd61.bc.ca/parent-studentresources/registration.