The Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education has opted to move its French immersion program to St. Mary's School in 2027 in a shuffle meant to accommodate enrolment growth.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education trustees voted to move the St. John Paul II School’s French Immersion program to St. Mary’s School starting in the 2027-28 school year.
Due to the projected student enrolment growth of St. John Paul II School, as well as the French immersion program itself, the division is sending Grade 6 students enrolled in the program to St. Mary’s School.
The board heard Tuesday that to accommodate programming at the new Holy Trinity Academy, expected to open for learning for the 2027-28 school year, it had two options to accommodate the growing enrolment.
The first option and preferred option was to keep St. Mary’s School open, because option No. 2 was to request funding from the province of approximately $2 million for the purchase of six or seven modular classrooms that could be added on at Holy Trinity, impacting the school’s design plans.
“That would further reduce the playground space that is available there,” explained superintendent Dr. Dwayne Zarichny. “We have designed the school in a way that we can just add the portable (classrooms) on, but that will basically go from the back of the school, across where the ball diamond is to the end.”
MHCBE has boasted Holy Trinity’s design as one of the most inclusive and accessible buildings in the province, and plans to reveal similar plans for its playground that will include several accessible components.
It anticipates enrolment growth in its French immersion program will rise by 130 students by the 2027-28 school year, and the third option to accommodate that would have been to utilize flexible learning spaces at Holy Trinity Academy – spaces the division hoped would host classes like Dance.
The new Holy Trinity Academy is designed to accommodate 950 students, however Zarichny explains the real estate room of the building does not necessarily match that number.
“We used up some of the space for the dance studio, we used up some of that space for the football change room as example,” he said. “That’s how the allotment works, it’s not classrooms for 950 students and then everything else is added on, because you only get so many square metres per student.”
