Slight enrolment drop expected at CTR Catholic schools in Okotoks

Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools had a small dip in their school enrolment for the 2019-20 school year at its Okotoks schools.

“We had a huge cohort of Grade 12 students leave and a smaller than usual core of Kindergarten (coming in) that’s the anomaly this year,” said Scott Morrison, CTR Catholic superintendent.

There was a 1.7 per cent decrease in enrolment from 2018-19 at the Okotoks schools as the division submitted its Sept. 30, count which is used for provincial funding.

However, the division was ready.

“We predicted this, we could tell from our registration inquiries and we knew we were losing the big Grade 12 cohort,” Morrison said.  “We came in exactly where we expected.”

He said the division predicted it may lose some students to the new public school, the Kindergarten-Grade 8 Meadow Ridge School, across from Holy Trinity Academy, as CTR Catholic does not have a junior high school north of the river.

He said there was no reduction in staffing at Okotoks schools, if anything there may have been a slight increase.

There are some positive signs to having smaller enrolments.

Kindergarten to Grade 6 Good Shepherd School is at 95 per cent at its utilization rate — after years of being well over 100 per cent.

"Good Shepherd’s decline is not only expected but planned, as we’re exiting large cohorts in Grade 6 and replacing them with smaller cohorts in Kindergarten," Morrison said. "We’re able to do this because some are designated to St. Francis of Assisi Academy. Good Shepherd is close to being completely rightsized, so we can, for the first time in years, accept more students at Good Shepherd in the coming years."

It's not a long-term fix though.

“But what we do need is a new school," Morrison said. “Our no. 1 priority is to get a new school in Okotoks and then move all the kids from Good Shepherd to the new school. And then fix Good Shepherd and re-purpose it as a smaller school.”

There has been no announcement for new schools, but Morrison is cautiously optimistic as the division had questions from the Province concerning land availability and other concerns.

Across the division, which includes schools in Canmore, Drumheller, Oyen, Strathmore, High River, Brooks and Okotoks enrolment was down about 0.4 per cent.

Enrolment for CTR Catholic Okotoks area schools: