By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
The Prairie Spirit School Division (PSSD) has seen its enrolment increase slightly in 2025-2026 compared to last year, though Kindergarten numbers are continuing a downward trend.
During their October 27 board meeting, acting Director of Education Dean Broughton presented Prairie Spirit trustees with the division’s enrolment figures as of September 30, 2025.
A total of 11,620 students were counted throughout the division, an increase of 33 from the enrolment count on September 30, 2024.
While that is good news, Broughton noted there are 16 fewer Kindergarten students than were counted last year.
This is part of an ongoing trend; in 2024-2025, there were 47 more graduates than there were Kindergarten students, and this year, there will be 52 more graduates than Kindergarteners, he said.
A total of 26 schools experienced lower enrolments compared to last year, while 19 experienced higher enrolments.
However, it should be noted the exact amounts of these increases and decreases vary; in some cases, it’s only one or two students either way, Broughton noted.
Urban schools in Warman and Martensville saw an average increase of 2.6 students per school, while rural schools across the school division saw an average decrease of 1.7 students.
“So again, not by huge numbers in the overall averages there, but definitely a slight growth and slight decline,” Broughton said, noting that factoring in the population of Hutterite Colony schools within PSSD did not move the needle much.
Another number tracked by PSSD are the number of home-based students, which increased by 88 from last year. Broughton noted this was the “largest increase of any category that we looked at.”
Looking at Prairie Spirit enrolment at the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre (SDLC), Broughton said that part-time enrolment has grown by 100 courses compared to last year.
He noted that part-time enrolment encapsulates those students who are taking one or two courses at SDLC. It is projected that there will be a total of 674 part-time enrolments from Prairie Spirit this year.
“We won’t know until November what that (number) actually is, because that’s when we get our first bill from them,” he said.
Also, the number of full-time enrolments at SDLC from Prairie Spirit is projected to increase by 23 this year, rising to a total of 189.