Next year St. George School will graduate its last class of Grade 9 students.
The Light of Christ Roman Catholic Separate School Division voted March 29 to close the Kindergarten to Grade 9 school in Wilkie that recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
"For the last three years, we've been looking at the numbers of students enrolled at the school, working with staff, parents and the community, and we've come to the conclusion that the numbers there aren't going to be sustainable into the future," said Herb Sutton, director of education for the school division.
"The major difficulty in terms of enrolment is the majority of students are in the older grades."
This year only one Kindergarten student was enrolled, Sutton noted. Projected enrolment for 2011-12 is 56 students, with 33 students in Grade 6 and under and no Kindergarten students at all.
Finances were a factor in the decision to close the school.
Light of Christ has 1,964 students in eight schools in four communities. The average cost per student across the school division for 2009-10 was $7,670.14. At St. George School, the average cost per student was $13,434.06 -- 175 per cent of the division average.
"We just didn't feel we could sustain that over time," Sutton said.
It's also a challenge to provide extracurricular activities for the students, particularly in the older grades, Sutton added. For example, there are only a few students to make up sports teams, and there's a lot of pressure on a small staff to maintain programming.
St. George School will close in July 2012, allowing time to plan the transition of students to Living Sky School Division. The nearest Catholic school is in Unity, but Sutton said so far no one has expressed interest in bussing students there.
The school division has not yet decided what it will do with the school building or its assets.
The teaching staff of 6.5 positions and four support staff will be accommodated within the school system, if possible, Sutton said.
Principal Liz Duncan, who has been at St. George School for six years, said the decision to close the school is not surprising, but it's very disappointing.
"It's disappointing to know we will no longer have a Catholic school in Wilkie," she said.
"This is a sad time. We just celebrated St. George's 50th anniversary two years ago and now we're going to close."
But the school's last year will be a good one, Duncan said.
"We will not say, 'This is the last time we'll ever do this.' It will be business as usual. We'll make it the best year possible," she said.
Enrolment at St. George School:
2006-07 88 students
2007-08 73 students
2008-09 65 students
2009-10 63 students
2010-11 57 students
2011-12 projection 56 students
2012-13 projection 46 students
