Thursday January 4, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Starting this month, children born in 2019 can be registered for Kindergarten in Sooke School District 62 (SD62), to start classes in September 2024 (for the 2024/25 academic year). That’s for children who will turn age 5 years by December 31, 2024.
Families who live in Langford, Colwood, Sooke, Highlands, Metchosin, and the Juan de Fuca areas (East Sooke, Otter Point up to Port Renfrew) are within the SD62 catchment.
All but two of the SD62 schools are in Langford, Colwood and Sooke. There is also an elementary school in Metchosin and one in Port Renfrew.
Catchment overflow:
As a growing school district, some of the SD62 schools are nearing capacity.
Visit the SD62 Student Enrolment Priorities page to learn more. Indigenous rights holders will have priority access to their respective Nation’s school of choice.
Popular names for children born in 2019:
As a point of interest, for children born in 2019 who will be registering for a Kindergarten start in September 2024:
- the top boys names are Oliver, Liam, Lucas, Ethan and Noah.
- the top girls names are Olivia, Charlotte, Emma, Ava and Sophia.
Three streams:
There are three Kindergarten options in SD62: Nature K, French Immersion and Regular.
- The high-demand Nature K and French Immersion Kindergarten programs will see registration run January 15 through 19. (In 2023 the classes filled up and there was a wait list.)
- Regular Kindergarten registration runs January 29 through February 2.
Nature Kindergarten:
The high-demand Nature K and French Immersion Kindergarten programs will see registration run January 15 through 19. Parents must attend a mandatory Nature K information session prior to registration. For a list of dates, see the Nature Kindergarten page.
Nature Kindergarten is available at the following schools:
French Immersion Kindergarten:
French Immersion Kindergarten is available at the following schools:
Kindergarten in BC:
Regular Kindergarten registration runs January 29 through February 2.
More information about Kindergarten in BC is available on the Ministry of Education and Child Care website.
How to register:
All registration is done online at registration.sd62.bc.ca .
Parents or guardians are advised to read the Registration Guide to make sure the required documents are ready to upload during registration.
Students will not be officially registered until all documentation is uploaded.
Fast-growing student population:
The SD62 student population has been steadily increasing each year since 2014. This is driven by continual housing development in the west shore area (part of the regional growth strategy of the Capital Regional District).
There has been “a remarkable growth rate of 40% over the last 15 years,” said Paul Block last fall when he was SD62 deputy superintendent. Block is now SD62 Superintendent, effective January 1, 2024.
“The municipality is open for business and for development,” said Block in an interview in October 2023. “The municipality has been very aggressive and rightfully so,” he said about Langford jumping on the expansion opportunities found within the CRD’s growth strategy. “The challenge for us has been in keeping up with that, of course,” said Block, “knowing that we’re working on a different development cycle than (housing) development does”.
For this current academic year (2023/24) there are 13,767 students in SD62 classrooms (at September 30, 2023). That’s 680 more students over the previous year.
===== RELATED:
- Sooke school district faces steady student population growth (November 7, 2023)
- Classroom space slam dunk for SD62 (October 31, 2023)
- School in rural west shore Metchosin finally gets a crosswalk (August 18, 2023)
- Indigenous name gifted to new elementary school in south Langford (August 14, 2023)
- SD62 ushering in Paul Block as their next superintendent starting 2024 (July 3, 2023)
- SD62 Sept 2023 waitlists for Nature K and French Immersion (January 20, 2023)
- Alive with gardens and light at SD62’s new PEXSISEN Elementary (September 3, 2022)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has followed the news of SD62 at the board and committee level since 2014. She is the founding editor and publisher of Island Social Trends which launched at IslandSocialTrends.ca mid-2020 (and before that was in print as MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, and West Shore Voice News 2014-2020). Island Social Trends will re-emerge in print starting 2024.
Ms Brooke reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery and in 2023 was nominated for a Jack Webster Foundation award for contributing to community through journalism.
Mary P Brooke was an SD62 trustee candidate in 2022 as a way to enliven discussion around key issues for parents in the community.
Mary raised her four children in Oak Bay/Fairfield and Sooke (SD61 and SD62) through the years when education suffered under cutbacks and slow school growth under the previous (BC Liberal) government. Ms Brooke was active in parent PAC leadership, generating facilities results with new sidewalks at two elementary schools (2006-2007) and a parking lot for parents at one of those schools (2008).