Enrolment up at Calgary Catholic schools

Enrolment at Calgary's Catholic schools has increased significantly this year and teachers say they're worried about class sizes.

New enrolment figures show an extra 2,000 students in Catholic schools this fall. Over the last three years, the district has added more than 5,000 students to its schools and that has many worried about keeping up with demand.

"We need more schools in the district," said Gary Strother, chief superintendent of the Calgary Catholic School District. "We're actually at full capacity right now."

According to a memorandum released by the school board Wednesday, student numbers have increased across all grade levels.

Over the last five years, there are more than 400 students in kindergarten as well as more than 1,100 enrolled in elementary school and 600 combined in both junior and senior high schools.

Confronting bigger class sizes

The issue of growing enrolment was front and centre at a school board meeting Wednesday night in Calgary.

Members of the teachers' union were in attendance to voice their concerns about increasing class sizes.

"If Alberta is growing at 100,000 people per annum, we're all going to be facing challenges that we need to share and talk about in terms of advocacy for funding," said Alexandra Jurisic, president of the Calgary Catholic teachers' union.

The district says for now it is still crunching enrolment numbers.

Officials are trying to determine whether the extra students are coming from the Calgary public school system or if more families are simply moving to the district.

The board will be releasing a more detailed analysis of enrolment trends later this school year.