The Evergreen School Division will be engaging in a bit of creative mathematics for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year that will see a better balance between student enrollment and school capacity, and more opportunities to optimize student learning and access to programs.
The division has added grades to its high schools and subtracted grades from its middle and early years schools.
ESD superintendent and CEO Scott Hill said the division is really excited about the upcoming reconfiguration because it will create a number of advantages such as single-grade classrooms that will enhance student learning, give middle years students access to more diverse programming and mitigate space pressures in some early and middle years schools.
“Our grades 7 and 8 students will have better and more efficient access to more diverse programming that can be delivered more efficiently. They’ll have access to a range of specialty offerings like practical arts, and they’ll be able to take part in band more efficiently,” said Hill. “Because we’re going to create some space in our early years schools, it will be easier for us to continue to pursue single grades. For quite a while, our school division has had split grades such as a combined grades 1 and 2 class and a combined grade 3 and 4 class and so forth. Beginning this current year, the school board has made some investments to try to have single grades.”
The single-grade classes for K-6 students are expected to result in a “more optimal learning experience.”
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to have more specialized courses for the grades 7 and 8 students and to have single grades for our K to 6 students. We think that will really improve the teaching and learning contexts for both students and teachers,” said Hill. “We want to make sure our kids are in the best kind of context to learn and succeed.”
With the freeing up of space in early years schools, Hill said they’ll be able to provide sensory rooms, or calming or re-focusing areas, that can help support students with complex needs.
The division’s three high schools – Arborg Collegiate, Riverton Collegiate and Gimli High School – will be adding grades 7 and 8 students to their roster, becoming 7-12 schools. The two lower grades will not be part of the high school credit system or follow a semester system.
The reorganization of will mitigate space pressures at Sigurbjorg Stefansson Early School and Arborg Early Middle School where it’s becoming “increasingly limited” and proactively deal with potential challenges to space at Riverton Early Middle School and Winnipeg Beach School, according to a letter the division sent to parents last year, announcing the reconfiguration.
Incorporating grades 7 and 8 students in high schools is a “common” practice in Manitoba, and will provide then with a range programming including specialized sports, band, industrial arts and home economics.
“Research indicates that students who begin attending a high school in Grade 7 are more likely to complete high school successfully. It’s important to note that the typical concerns associated with larger high schools are not apparent until enrollment exceeds 600 students, which is well beyond the enrollment number that the largest school in our division will reach,” states the division’s letter.
Arborg Early Middle School will become a K-6 school. Riverton Early Middle School will become a K-6 school and Winnipeg Beach School will become a K-6 school in September. And Sigurbjorg Stefansson Early School in Gimli will become a K-3 school and Dr. George Johnson School in Gimli will become a 4-6 school.
Hill shared estimated enrollment numbers for all eight of the division’s schools when the new configuration will be implemented in September.
Arborg Collegiate will have 165 students while Arborg Early Middle School will have 205. Riverton Collegiate will have 105 students while Riverton Early Middle School will have 120. Gimli High School will have 430 students, Dr. George Johnson will have 170 and Sigurbjorg Stefansson Early School will have 150. Winnipeg Beach School will have 115 students.
Hill said the division undertook the reconfiguration after getting feedback from school principals and other division staff about “providing the best experiences we can for the kids,” about programming opportunities they could take advantage of and by considering the opportunities for and challenges to meeting the division’s educational goals. In addition to that, issues about school size and space kept coming up.
The division did not require provincial approval to rejig the schools, Hill added, but ESD let the province know in the event it may run short of space in the future, especially in early years schools such as Sigurbjorg Stefansson in Gimli, which has a higher number of students than communities such as Arborg, Riverton and Winnipeg Beach. For the division to be eligible for portable classrooms, it would have to show the province it used “all of the available space” and would likely have to be added to a waiting list.
The division held public meetings in November about the upcoming change in Arborg, Riverton Gimli and Winnipeg Beach, as well as provided parents with an opportunity to provide feedback through an online survey.
There were some concerns about younger kids mixing with high school kids.
“We collected information by survey and we had a parent-information night in each community and the feedback has been largely positive. Most parents see the benefits. There were, of course, concerns from some parents about the mixing of grades, for example grade 7 students being in the same building as high school kids,” said Hill. “I welcome parent feedback that encourages us to make sure we have a high standard of behaviour in our schools and asks us to make sure we create school spaces that are safe and caring for their kids. We were able to do a tour of Gimli High School for parents who came to the information night at Gimli High School and there was a lot of positive feedback.”
As for the impact of the reconfiguration on the number of bus routes, Hill said the division just might see routes subtracted rather than new ones added.
“We’re thinking we’ll have to do fewer routes as a result of the reconfiguration,” he said. “But that remains to be seen.”
