The Langley school district's student enrolment grew by less than 1,000 students this September – the first time that has happened in the last several years.
According to a district report presented at the Tuesday, Oct. 22 board of education meeting, the school-aged student headcount this year increased by 860 students from last year.
That brings the total headcount of provincially-funded students enroled in September of this year to 25,144, up from 24,284 last year.
While that is a significant increase, it's a slowdown from the almost 1,200-student increase in enrolment last year.
"This growth is indicative of the demographic shifts that have been taking place in Langley since 2014 of young families having children and the in-migration of families to the district to take advantage of new housing in the Willoughby area," said the report, authored by district secretary-treasurer Brian Iseli.
Because the district receives the bulk of its funding from the provincial Ministry of Education on a per-student basis, this mean's this year's ministry funding will be $277.8 million, $1.1 million higher than was projected.
According to a grade-by-grade breakdown, there are more students in high school entering the district than in elementary school.
Increases by grade cohort this year are:
• Kindergarten, 25
• Grades 1-3, 104
• Grades 4-7, 162
• Grades 8-10, 288
• Grades 11-2, 281
While the largest number of new students are attending in the R.E. Mountain Secondary catchment – which covers Willoughby – almost all areas of Langley are now seeing growing student numbers, with the exception of Brookswood.
• Langley Secondary catchment – 164 increase
• Aldergrove Community Secondary catchment – 121 increase
• R.E. Mountain Secondary catchment – 399 increase
• Walnut Grove Secondary catchment – 43 increase
• Brookswood Secondary catchment – 2 decrease
• D.W. Poppy Secondary catchment – 63 increase
• Choice schools (French immersion, fine arts, and other programs) – 148 increase
The number of international students studying in the district also increased slightly this year, to 1,088, up 76 students from the 1,012 enroled last September. With international students, there are 26,232 students enroled this September.
In the 2000s and early 2010s, Langley saw a spate of school closures, including Aldergrove Elementary and South Carvolth Elementary, as smaller, older, and especially rural schools had seen their student numbers dwindle. H.D. Stafford was converted to a middle school from a high school, and the board even briefly considered closing Langley Secondary.
The Langley School District's growth took off like a rocket after 2014. Following a period of stagnant growth, in which enrolment hovered around 18,800 students for several years, the rapid development of Willoughby led to a sudden influx of new students.
Since 2014, the focus has been on adding more schools, with portables appearing at schools in Willoughby and increasingly in Langley City to meet the rapidly-growing student numbers.
