As Morden's population grows, so does student body in Western School Division

Since September 2022, the population of Morden has continued to grow. That increase is reflected in the student count of Western School Division. 

"We've had a fairly significant continued increase of students since September [2022]," says Stephen Ross, Superintendent of WSD.  

"We've got about 35 more students than we had at the end of September, so that's almost a class-and-1/2. It creates challenges as we're growing as well, but it's a really good problem to have. For the first time we did pass 2100 students and we're heading towards 2200 as our next target." 

At the end of September student enrollment was around 2075 students and is now sitting at just over 2100, according to Ross. 

To accommodate those numbers and to prepare for next year, the board has increased staffing to help with large classes. 

A full month into the new year, kindergarten registrations are starting to pick up as well. The division needs to know many children will be enrolled to ensure classes are the appropriate size, emphasizes Ross. 

"We need to know how many classes we have so we can hire the most fantastic teachers to teach your child in the fall. If you're at home and you're hearing this and you have not yet registered, please do so as soon as you can. We expect there to be quite a significant number of kindergarten classrooms next year, perhaps our largest number ever. Currently we're tracking with registrations to see a pretty healthy enrollment next fall." 

Western runs a 'Get Ready for Kindergarten' program that can help parents give their children a solid educational foundation.  

Ross notes many children have suffered from a lack of socialization opportunities due to pandemic restrictions. 

"Kindergarten and grade one are probably the most important years for kids to get them off to a solid foundation. Getting into school and meeting other people, making good friends, learning about letters and numbers, and all of those kinds of things is critically important to set them up for probably the most important year in school, which is grade one. Having really solid start to kindergarten is critically important for being successful later on." 

About 150 children enrolled in kindergarten this year. Ross points out that next year's mark may range from 180 to 200 depending on various factors including continued movement into the Pembina Valley.