The Upper Grand District School Board program committee has heard recommendations on how to best implement different enrolment caps for junior kindergarten (JK) French immersion registrants in September.
Once JK French immersion registration closes on Jan. 26, waitlists for each French immersion school will be evaluated to calculate how many students exceed the enrolment caps.
“Placing all students who register for French immersion into a French immersion program may not be possible in all areas of the board,” states a board memo presented to the UGDSB’s program committee on Jan. 10.
When the number of French immersion registrants exceeds the enrolment cap there will be a random selection process to offer registrants a spot in the program. However, students with a sibling already in French immersion will be given priority, according to an Oct. 25 program committee memo.
The selection will be completed by Feb. 10 and a list of schools requiring the random selection process will be posted at www.ugdsb.on.ca.
For the 2017-18 school year the enrolment caps for JK entry are:
– Ecole Arbour Vista – 40;
– Centennial Hylands Elementary School – 26
– Ecole Guelph Lake PS 60;
– Edward Johnson PS 46;
– Fred A. Hamilton PS 35;
– John McCrae PS 46;
– Ecole King George 46;
– Paisley Road PS 46;
– Victory PS 30;
– Brisbane PS 40;
– Ecole Harris Mill 30;
– James McQueen PS 50;
– Palmerston PS 30; and
– Princess Elizabeth PS 78.
The schools where registrants exceed the caps will be grouped into geographic regions including: Guelph, northern Wellington County, central Wellington County, eastern Wellington County and Dufferin County.
Depending on registration in each area a regional holding site may be established, the memo explains.
If students are offered a spot at a regional holding site, parents will have 10 days to accept their child’s placement to remain on the waitlist.
If a regional waitlist is not established students will go to regular English tract JK at their home school and remain on the waitlist, the memo states.
“All FI students on the waitlist at the end of their JK school year will start their SK year at the home RT (regular track) school,” the memo states.
The memo explains French immersion placement will be based on waitlists from each student’s home school.
Students will learn if they are placed in French immersion during one of three periods:
– the Monday after the first term reporting PD day in January;
– June 30; or
– the Monday after the September elementary staffing count date in the student’s senior kindergarten year.
Placement could occur due to attrition at the student’s home school or if a new French immersion program is created.
For more information on the French immersion program visit www.ugdsb.on.ca/jkfi.
