Increasing school enrolment across Manitoba creates strain for some divisions, opportunity for others

Caitlyn Gowriluk · CBC News

· Posted: May 22, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Manitoba's largest schoolhouse part leaned connected other teachers hired astatine the past infinitesimal and turned parts of libraries into caller classrooms to support up with the influx of caller students it saw this schoolhouse twelvemonth — a leap its superintendent says was mostly driven by newcomers, including refugees fleeing planetary conflict.

That bump resulted successful an other 829 students crossed the Winnipeg School Division, compared to the erstwhile schoolhouse year. It's the largest summation successful immoderate part successful the province's latest enrolment report, which is based connected numbers from September 2024.

"We don't often expect 800 much students coming into our schools twelvemonth aft year," superintendent Matt Henderson said successful an interview.

"There are galore folks who are having to permission their ain location countries oregon bluish areas of Canada and travel to Winnipeg — and that's done planetary conflict, that's due to the fact that of clime change, that's due to the fact that of a fig of reasons," helium said. "As a city, we request to beryllium prepared for that. We request to beryllium capable to invited folks and beryllium nimble."

Henderson said the schools feeling that the astir see those successful the Elmwood area, wherever some have been a "landing spot" for radical coming from Ukraine, and schools adjacent the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba, a cardinal country that has seen an influx of radical from countries successful parts of Asia and Africa.

The strain connected schools has been propelled by a request to some person capable teachers and classrooms to support people sizes down, and to guarantee newcomer students who request assistance with connection oregon trauma person the enactment they need, helium said. 

While enrolment accrued successful astir of Manitoba's schoolhouse divisions this year, the stories down those numbers varied — from migration and caller developments pushing up colonisation size, to peculiar programming perchance enticing caller students to marque the power from different schools. 

In the adjoining Louis Riel School Division, schools person besides seen a leap successful students driven by caller and ongoing developments and infills successful the division's southeast Winnipeg catchment country — maturation that is particularly evident crossed the division's French immersion schools, superintendent Christian Michalik said successful an interview. 

The part had the third-highest summation by numbers crossed the province, with 412 much students over the erstwhile schoolhouse year, the province's study said. Michalik described the bump as "the equivalent of galore an simple school," and said it highlights the division's request for much space.

An illustration of the strain the part faces is its newest school, successful Winnipeg's Sage Creek neighbourhood, which has been nether accordant unit since it opened successful 2017 and continues to conflict with overcrowding.

By the clip different schoolhouse successful the country opens this September — aft being requested successful 2013 — it's expected to beryllium astatine capacity, too, Michalik said.

"We've done a batch of what we tin bash with the schools that we have, with the buildings we have, to find solutions to the increasing enrolment and the overcrowding, but we're moving retired of those solutions," helium said.

That's antecedently included repurposing English schools arsenic French immersion ones, and this September volition spot students successful grades 7 and 8 astatine St. Vital's École Varennes — which Michalik said was built successful the 1950s arsenic flood alleviation — moved to different adjacent schoolhouse with much room.

Challenges,opportunities in agrarian Manitoba

While they don't person the aforesaid numbers arsenic schools successful the much densely populated Winnipeg, agrarian Manitoba divisions were among those with the highest enrolment increases by percent — including Morden's Western School Division, which superintendent Stephen Ross said is "bursting astatine the seams," owed mostly to precocious migration rates successful confederate Manitoba.

It saw an summation of 113 students from the erstwhile year, which represented a 5.1 per cent leap for the smaller division, bringing some situation and opportunity.

On 1 broadside of that equation, there's the request to person capable abstraction and pull capable teachers to connection "the kinds of programming that kids merit successful this province," Ross said successful an interview. Some students are inactive learning successful portable classrooms, and a caller schoolhouse that opened this twelvemonth is already expected to beryllium adjacent capableness by adjacent fall.

But the summation successful students has besides meant much jobs that request to beryllium filled to support up with the request — and the summation successful skilled labour successful the area, with immigrants coming from countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and Norway, has brought caller radical acceptable to capable those roles.

"Right now, our installation supervisor is from the Ukraine, my secretary-treasurer is from the Philippines, our proscription feline is from Wales and our quality resources idiosyncratic is from Kazakhstan," Ross said. 

"I deliberation Morden is simply a large illustration of benignant of, you know, what the Canadian imagination is for radical coming to the country."

Welcome boost for 2-school district, autarkic schools

It's been a antithetic communicative wholly successful Pinawa's Whiteshell School District, which, with its 2 schools, saw Manitoba's biggest enrolment summation by percent astatine 13.8 per cent (or 27 students) this year, arsenic of the province's latest report.

The eastbound Manitoba territory antecedently noticed it was losing students who chose schools successful the province's francophone schoolhouse part oregon those with offerings similar vocational classes. But superintendent Kent Schiltroth said a recent propulsion to reverse that inclination whitethorn beryllium dilatory paying off.

That's included promoting immoderate of the areas wherever the territory differs from different divisions, similar offering some half-day inferior kindergarten and full-day kindergarten, and expanding its outdoor acquisition offerings.

"That became a large happening for our board, is to say, 'We've got this truly unsocial situation successful Whiteshell…. Nature's close astatine our backmost doorstep. And truthful let's thin into that truly hard,'" Schiltroth said, adding the territory is trying to some pull students from bordering communities and absorption much connected bringing successful planetary students done speech programs.

"Every clip that caller radical travel into town, they've got caller experiences, caller backgrounds, caller philosophies, and it's conscionable benignant of the mode that the town's been built — precise accepting of caller ideas," helium said. "And we've benignant of embraced those. And truthful for a tiny school, we're capable to pat into a lot of those resources that radical travel with."

And it wasn't conscionable Manitoba's nationalist schools that saw an uptick successful enrolment: autarkic schools crossed the state besides jumped by 5.5 per cent, oregon 1,038 students.

It's a invited inclination that Andrew Micklefield, enforcement manager for the Manitoba Federation of Independent Schools, said has been ongoing for immoderate time.

As for wherefore families take autarkic schools, "there are arsenic galore reasons arsenic determination are families and arsenic determination are schools," Micklefield said, though astir often they're driven by the scope of faith-based options successful the province's autarkic schools.

"It's a divers group, and parents with those religion backgrounds often admit the accidental to amended [with the] Manitoba curriculum, Manitoba certified teachers — but besides person a religion constituent too."