School enrolment up in region
September 22, 2025, 8:38 am
There are more students in the classroom as the 2025/26 school year gets started in southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba.
The largest increases in school numbers are in some of the larger centres in the region, with Moosomin, Esterhazy, Rocanville, and Wawota all seeing increases in student numbers.
One of the biggest impacts is at MacLeod School in Moosomin, where a third Kindergarten class has been added due to a higher number of students starting Kindergarten this fall.
There are multiple different school divisions in the area including Southeast Cornerstone, Prairie Valley, and Fort La Bosse School Divisions. Some schools are reporting increases in the number of students, while some others are noting slight losses.
The last few years have seen a pattern of small fluctuations in school populations, with an overall positive trend coming out of it.
Although school enrolment figures aren’t official until the end of the month, these are what the initial numbers look like for schools in the surrounding area.
McNaughton High School in Moosomin is reporting a slight decrease of students, down four from last year’s final number of 350. Principal Jordan Ethier said that number is likely to grow by the end of the year to around 350-355, however.
MacLeod Elementary is seeing an increase of 14 to 296 students. The school has seen a stable number of students, around 270-280, and noted that they have been trending toward the 300 mark for the last few years.”
We haven’t been to 300 for quite a few years,” said Tammy Cole, Principal at MacLeod. “We were when I first became Admin, but we started trickling down about five years ago. In the last two or three years we’ve seen a nice jump and are getting back to where we were.”
MacLeod also will be having a third Kindergarten class, with Cole noting that this is one of the largest classes in years. “We have added another Kindergarten teacher and have converted a multi-use space in our Grade 4/5 wing to a Kindergarten classroom,” she said.
Cole says that she expects the growth to continue. “It can vary through the year. Last year we got nine or 10 new students throughout the year. We have seen an increase over the last five years. Our SCC gets a report each year about what enrolment could look like in the future and we’re expecting good things.”
“This is one of our biggest Kindergarten classes in years, 54 students enrolled, and our Grade 5s would be 28 and 27 between the two classes. Grade 3 is around 26 in each room.
“We did add one Kindergarten teacher which is great. We had to get creative. One classroom we were using as a breakout space we’ve converted into a classroom. With the Saskatchewan government funding things really well this fall, I feel we have an adequate number of teachers in the building. This was a definite difference and it was a pleasure to schedule. It was definitely different, and the addition of a complexity teacher has been amazing. It’s a few more than what it has been, but everything is contingent on enrolment.”
Cole says that although the school may be a bit over capacity, it still doesn’t feel crowded. “I think that we have pretty large classrooms, so an increase in students isn’t a big problem. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else!” she said.
Rocanville School saw an 11 student increase, up to 277 in 2025, now more than the total from two years ago (274) after a dip to 266 students by the end of last school year. Rocanville has seen relatively the same number of students each year going back to 2021.
Redvers School on the other hand noted a decrease of 14 students so far in 2025/26. The school’s population has been dropping a bit each year since 2021, down from 285 in 2021 to its current number of 249 students.
École St. Lazare is reporting a small decrease in students after a jump last year. In 2024, they had 13 more students than the previous year, and this year they have gone back down eight to 74 students. They have maintained a consistent number of around 70 students the last few years.
Elkhorn School is up two from last year’s 164 students. They have been steadily growing two or three students per year. In 2021 they had 159, then 158 for 2022 and 2023, and 164 last school year.
Kipling School continues to be the largest single school in the area. With 13 more students than last year, they are up to 388 students. They reached a peak of 402 students in their building in 2023, and are trending back up toward that number.
Maryfield School is also reporting an increase of students, up to 97. They had 92 students in 2021, then 93 for the next two years, and 90 in 2024.
Wapella’s K-8 school is seeing 49 students again this year. They have seen similar enrolment numbers each year going back to 2021, with 56, 51, 53, and 49 students in each of the previous 4 years.
Wawota Parkland School is noting that they are up to 216 students, nine more than last year’s total. They are continuing to grow from just under 200 students a few years ago to their current numbers.
Whitewood School is seeing similar numbers to what they have for the previous few years, up just one going into 2025 to sit at 235 students. They maintained around 255-265 students from 2021-23, before taking a dip to 234 last school year. They stay in the middle of the pack in terms of school sizes in the area.
P.J. Gillen Elementary in Esterhazy is down five students to a clean 250 going into 2025. This is likely because of a large class moving on to the high school in town.
The school taking on those extra students in Esterhazy High School. They are up to 360 students, and have continued to grow at a fast pace since 2021. They are up 45 students since they reported 315 four years ago.
Kennedy/Langbank School is down to 38 kids after staying at 48 for three years in a row. They stood at 60 students in 2021, which was their largest number in many years.
Grenfell High School is at 136, up one from their total last year at this time, 135 students. Grenfell is a growing community and they expect numbers to rise in the next few years.
School enrolment in the area is on an overall upward trend that is welcomed by schools across the southeast.
