School District 52 has set new boundaries for Prince Rupert’s elementary schools, as well as moving up the deadline for kindergarten registration, for the 2011-12 school year.
The only major change with the catchment area is that children who last year were in Westview Elementary’s area are now in Pineridge Elementary’s area (see map below). In other words, students living north of Park Avenue and west of 9th Street are now in Pineridge’s catchment area instead of Westview’s.
Parents who want to send their kids to a school outside their catchment must apply for a transfer by February 28. And parents who are signing their kids up for kindergarten must submit their applications between February 1-14. In years past, the deadlines for catchment transfers & kindergarten applications was March.
In either case, the deadline has been moved from March to February so School District 52 has a general idea of how many students will be at all of the schools, said Board Chair Tina Last. “It’s really advantageous for the district to know how many children to expect,” she said.
Last added that people who move into Rupert between February and September will still be able to send their kids to school, and parents who get their applications in late will not be punished. But she emphasized the sooner the school district has enrollment numbers, the better. “We want to know earlier how many children we’re dealing with, especially this year,” she said.
Indeed, the 2011-2012 school year involves many changes: Westview Elementary is closing; some students will be switching elementary schools; all-day kindergarten will be taking place in all elementary schools; high school students are being amalgamanted into Charles Hays Secondary School.
Oh, and there’s also a school board election in November.
~Written by Chris Armstrong. Image courtesy of School District 52 – used with permission.