The two Manitoba school divisions that saw the biggest rises in enrolment

Superintendents from the Manitoba school divisions that saw the largest rises in enrolment last year attribute their growth to students returning from pandemic homeschooling and immigration.

The province released its 2022/2023 enrolment report this month. It details mandatory data reported by the province’s public schools, funded independent schools and non-funded schools.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact on attendance in some public schools as enrolments returned to levels prior to September 30, 2020,” the report said.

It found the neighbouring Garden Valley and Western school divisions, representing schools in the Winkler and Morden areas respectively, had the highest percentage pupil increase.

Garden Valley reported a 12.5 per cent spike in enrolment, while Western had a 12.1 per cent rise.

“One factor is students coming back after the pandemic that were homeschooled and the other factor are newcomers,” Garden Valley superintendent Dan Ward told CTV News Winnipeg in a phone interview.

“We have quite a few newcomers in the Winkler area and based on that, we've seen some fairly significant growth in our school division.”

Despite the increase, the division still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Still, the report noted total enrolment in homeschooling across the province decreased by 1,520 pupils or 24.7 per cent.

NEW SCHOOLS IN DEVELOPMENT TO MEET GROWTH

Garden Valley’s neighbours at Western School Division also attribute much of their growth to new Canadians.

Morden has a community-driven initiative that offers eligible, skilled workers a path to immigrate through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program and with formal support from the city.

Superintendent Stephen Ross says the growth is a challenge, but a good one to have. The division is in the process of building a new kindergarten to grade eight school with capacity for 600 students in Morden’s northwest corner.

“We've also asked for a new high school to start design as soon as possible because we believe we're going to need that very soon, as well.”

School divisions with the largest numerical increases in pupil enrolment include River East Transcona and Louis Riel, both in Winnipeg.

Meantime, Flin Flon, Turtle River, and Southwest Horizon reported the largest decreases.

Other key takeaways –total enrolment in funded and non-funded independent schools rose by 745 or 4.3 per cent.

The full report can be read on the province’s website.