BPSD enrolment holding steady

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Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press

The enrolment numbers are in for the Beautiful Plains School Division (BPSD).

Superintendent Jason Young said that the student numbers for the year currently stand at 1,848. Young indicated that these results are exactly where they expected them to be.

“We started the school year with an expectation that our registration numbers would be very similar to what we had at the end of the previous school year. That’s exactly how it has gone, as we currently have 1,848 students enrolled, compared to 1,850 back in June,” noted Young. “In Neepawa, Hazel M. Kellington School is down 30 students, but Neepawa Area Collegiate has increased by 25. Both schools in Carberry [Carberry Collegiate and R.J. Waugh Elementary School], meanwhile, also had their enrolment numbers go up slightly.”

Young added that Beautiful Plains is estimating that an additional 30 students will be added to the division’s enrolment figures before the school year is completed.

As for the upgrade of facilities throughout the division, Young noted that the number of major capital projects is down compared to previous years. He did indicate, however, that preparations for their major 2018 project, the expansion to Neepawa Area Collegiate, are well underway.

“We have received many questions on the addition on NACI and the new child care centre. It’s something that many of the administrators and staff, as well as community members, are excited about,” Young said. “For a project such as this, it usually has a three year schedule, with one year focused on the planning. This project, however, has an aggressive timeline with a planned opening of Sept. 2019. Consultations and planning occurred throughout the summer and are moving ahead quickly. The expectation is that it’ll break ground in the early spring. To get a project like this progressing in such a quick manner takes a lot of work, but the community of Neepawa will be the beneficiaries.”