It was back to school this week, and there was no shortage of students to fill classrooms. Myrtle Philip Elementary School’s enrolment was up Tuesday by 50 pupils. Principal Bob Daly says it’s not a problem though. There are 493 kindergarten to Grade 6 pupils enrolled in the English program, and 58 K-6 pupils enrolled in the Francophone program. "Enrolment is at about 550, which is what we had anticipated," says Daly. "Last year we started off with 500 and ended with about 525, collectively in both programs." There are 10 portable classrooms at the back of the school this year, housing Grades 3, 4, 5 and 6. Daly says there is no need at this time for any additional portables, however there may be some spacing issues to be resolved within the coming weeks with regard to kindergarten classes. "The kindergarten classes are very tight," says Daly. "There’s not a lot of room for growth." Funding, staffing and space issues will hopefully be resolved by the end of the month. "Come the end of September, funding proposals will be finalized and we will know exactly where we stand," said Daly. "Right now it’s just dealing with the challenges of the first week of school, we’re working on getting everything up and running." Whistler Secondary School principal Rick Smith, says that enrolment numbers are close to the projected figure of 335. "We’ve had our first staff meeting," says Smith. "And everything seems to be bang-on."
