The administration for Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools is working on a policy which would require staff to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in an effort to keep schools as safe as possible. A report to the Board of Education states that despite the safety protocols in place at schools, the amount of COVID activity in children and youth is high.

The policy is being developed because vaccination has been proven to be the most effective measure to stem the spread and prevent sever outcomes of the virus. Vaccinated people are less likely to get infected, and therefore less likely to spread COVID-19 to others. The report gives the example of the school division’s high schools where the amount of transmission is less than 10 per cent of what has been reported in the Catholic schools overall, even though they represent 27 per cent of the student population.

Board members heard that COVID-19 has been much more active compared to last year because of the Delta variant fuelled fourth wave of the pandemic, and schools are reflecting what is happening in the broader community, and provincial-level restrictions on things like the size of household gatherings are not in place.

Enrolment:

There are 19,571 students enrolled at Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, which is an increase of 102 from September of last year. A recent report to the Board of Education indicates Catholic schools within the city have an enrolment increase of 81, with 18,108 students. The rest are at the five schools surrounding the city with two in Humboldt, and one each in Biggar, Martensville and Warman for a combined total of 1,463 students, an increase of 21 from last year.

One program which has seen a significant increase is the Cree Bilingual Program, with a total of 495 students at the end of September, which is an increase of 38 students.
On the other hand, the French Immersion Program saw a decrease of 36 students, sitting at 3,382 for this school year.