The Sooke school district is almost full, thanks to a stream of young families moving into the West Shore and Sooke.
All but two of the district’s 25 schools are operating at or near capacity. About 1,800 students are projected to join the district in the next five years — the equivalent of four to five elementary schools, superintendent Jim Cambridge said Wednesday.
“It has been a trend. It accelerated over the last six months or so, as families seem to be relocating from the core Victoria area to the West Shore and Sooke,” Cambridge said.
“We can accommodate kids now and in the next year, but it’s the future years we’re concerned about.”
The district has put a request in to the Ministry of Education to support land acquisition for new schools. For now, it is using mobile units to accommodate extra students. Elementary school computer labs are being converted into regular classrooms and replaced with mobile computer stations or laptops. Tenants such as privately run daycares have been given notice to vacate, Cambridge said.
The most aggressive growth is in Langford’s Westhills and Bear Mountain areas, as well as Colwood’s Royal Bay, Cambridge said. Royal Bay Secondary School, which opened in September, is already full.
While the Sooke school district has the largest projected growth in the region, enrolment is up across the province this year, following a 20-year decline, according to the Ministry of Education.
About 5,000 more students are enrolled in public school this year than a year ago. The province attributed the increase to families moving from other provinces, students returning to the public system from private schools and higher than expected international immigration.
Crowding is so bad in the Surrey school district that the city council has been asked to stop approving new residential development until more schools can be built.
In the Greater Victoria school district, enrolment rose by about 400 students in September, compared with the previous year.
The Greater Victoria school district is at about 91 per cent capacity, secretary-treasurer Mark Walsh said, and is projected to reach about 97 per cent over the next five years.
The district is reviewing its long-term facilities plan and might adjust catchment-area boundaries to help balance enrolment between schools. Walsh said a new school isn’t needed at this time.
The growth follows a long decline in Greater Victoria enrolment, following peaks in the 1970s and 1990s.
“We’ve finally reached a place where we’ve levelled out and started to grow,” Walsh said.
The Saanich school district also had a slight increase in enrolment this year, after a 12-year decline. About 10 years ago, the Saanich district closed six elementary schools and opened one new one, in response to a projected decline. The school-aged population decreased to less than 7,000 students from more than 8,000 during the decline, superintendent Keven Elder said. Enrolment is projected to be stable in the coming years.
B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, whose electoral district of Juan de Fuca includes much of the Sooke school district, said it’s the fastest-growing district on the Island.
“District 62 just doesn’t have the resources to meet those new kids coming in,” he said.
Stephanie Longstaff, whose 10 children attended Belmont Secondary, said students pay the price when forced into crowded classrooms or isolated in portables. “If it only took them two months [to build a new school] that would be great. But it takes two years. That’s just not acceptable,” she said.
