With schools at capacity, public school board looks to cap enrolment

With White Oaks Public School bursting at the seams, the Thames Valley District School Board is no longer allowing new students to register for fall, officials announced this week. 

Thames Valley is dealing with growing enrolment pressures, and other over-capacity schools will also likely be shut to new students during the school year, said Mark Fisher, the school board's director of education. 

"We're at the maximum [number of students] right now. We have over 1,000 students at that school, which has almost doubled in the last few years," Fisher said.

The cap at White Oaks affects about 25 kids, officials said. The school has had to add 12 portables, the maximum allowed. 

Children who registered for White Oaks Public School before June 30 or have a sibling who already goes there will still be allowed to attend this year.

Families who registered after July 1 will go to Nicholas Wilson Public School instead, about two kilometres away.

"We'll run a school bus over to Nicholas Wilson, where we have available space for those families," Fisher told CBC News. 

Families can also complete an area exemption request for another school if Nicholas Wilson doesn't work for them, but the school board won't provide busing for those kids. 

More students than expected

The number of students enrolling in public schools is much higher than they expected, so other schools will need registration caps later in the year, Fisher said. 

There are at least five schools that are on a watch list and any caps will likely be put in place sometime during the school year for new move-ins or the next school year, he said.

"Nothing imminent in the next few months, but it all depends on the number of kids that come," Fisher said.

The school board plans to build four new schools and expand within the city, including a new southwest London elementary school that is expected to open in September 2025, to try to keep up with all the new families moving to the area.

"We have houses that are being turned around and built in months, and so if the kids keep coming into the community, we have to accommodate them," Fisher said. 

"The new school will ease some of the pressure, but beyond that, we're going to move forward with an application for another school in that part of the city this year."