Prairie South has 16 classes with over 28 students this year

Sixteen classrooms in Prairie South School Division (PSSD) have 28 or more students this school year, while the number of classrooms with fewer than 10 students is nearly triple that.

As of Feb. 12, Assiniboia Composite High School, Cornerstone Christian School, Prince Arthur Elementary School and Rouleau School, each had one classroom with more than 28 students, while Central Collegiate and A.E. Peacock Collegiate each had six classrooms with over 28 students, according to a class size report.

Specifically, Central has 30 students in each of its six Math 30 PC classes; Cornerstone has 33 students in its Financial Literacy 20 classes; Peacock has 29 students in each of its six Math 30 Foundations classes; and Prince Arthur School has 29 students in its Grade 8 homeroom. 

There are 79 classes throughout the school division with 10 or fewer students as of Feb. 12, the data shows.

Briercrest Christian Academy has 10 students in its Foundations 30 class, Cornerstone has eight students in drama, nine students in PhysEd 30 and six students in music 20/30, while Riverview Collegiate has six students in welding 10/20/30 and eight students in drama 10/20/30.

The remaining 73 classrooms with 10 or fewer students are in rural schools in the division. Craik School has 12 classes with fewer than 10 students, the most of any rural school. 

The data about the number of students in classrooms was presented during the recent PSSD board of education meeting. Trustees received and filed the information. 

Important document

Trustee Lew Young said it is important to have this document so that the board can refer to it throughout the year when making decisions, while it also offers a level of transparency to schools and teachers. Educators can be confident knowing that this information is in front of trustees, who then know how large some classes are throughout the division. 

Young has been a trustee for more than 15 years and recalls the board spending much time discussing this document.

“It takes time to be able to create and have this data … but at least it’s there, that it’s coming to the board in the board package, so you can see what’s happening,” he added. “And if and when you see this again, it might be an item you want to move up into discussion and talk about it during the board meeting or when we have planning sessions.”

The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, April 6.