A new report shows French Immersion enrollment in the Prince Albert Catholic School Division remains strong heading into the next school year.
The PA Catholic school board received the update on Monday at their regular meeting. Education director Lorel Trumier said the division has had the highest number of French Immersion students per capita in Saskatchewan, and she expects that trend to continue.
“As an annual process, we make application to the Ministry of Education for French designation, and you can see by the numbers there that we had shared we have 30 per cent of our students in French Immersion per capita,” Trumier said. “If we remove pre-kindergarten from those numbers that the stat goes higher.”
According to the data, PA Catholic had 883 students enrolled in French Immersion for 2024- 2025. That’s roughly 30 per cent of the total student population. Removing pre-K improved the number to 40 per cent per capita.
“We do have a very large group of families and students who are just flourishing in the French Immersion (program),” Trumier said. “They work hard for that. They want the second language.”
The Catholic Division’s per capita enrolment is among the highest in Saskatchewan. The number of students enrolled also passes the provincial minimum of 15 per grade.
The number of students has steadily grown from 2008, when there were 593 students enrolled in the program.
“Our staff have done a great job ensuring children are successful because that takes a lot of energy and time and resource to make sure that those children are learning the second language,” Trumier said. “You can see just by the demand that offering that French designation for French Immersion is worth it. We’re pleased to say that we’ve got approved again.”
Data from the June enrollment report shows there were 303 students enrolled in French Immersion at Ecole St. Anne, 252 at Ecole St. Mary High School and 304 enrolled at Ecole Holy Cross at the conclusion of the prior school year.
The board also received news that the Ministry of Education has approved the designation of French Immersion programs for St. Anne, Holy Cross and Ecole St. Mary High School for French Immersion for the new school year.
“I think our staff really deserve the kudos there (and) the congratulations for their hard work because once again the numbers show that it’s a very viable programme and they do a great job for student success,” Trumier said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
