Garden Valley School Division enrolment numbers have come in at 4,549 students.

Superintendent, Todd Monster, says this is roughly 15 students higher than what they were projecting at the beginning of the 2018 school year. The extra enrolments are spread across the board from early years to high school, and across the whole division.

Monster says, "it could be due to new families moving into the area. More than likely it's related to that."

There are six schools in Winkler, and a number outside of the city to accommodate the high number of students in school, but the opening of Pine Ridge in 2019 will be extremely beneficial.

"Right now, all of our schools here in the city are at capacity, they're actually over capacity. That's not going to change until we get Pine Ridge open and then that will provide relief to our existing facilities," Monster adds.

Over the summer there were not any notable renovations done in any of the GVSD schools, in the anticipation of students shuffling around from a number of the schools into Pine Ridge.

"We're anticipating approximately about 550 kids that will be moving into the Pine Ridge school once it opens, and they'll be coming from various parts of Winkler. The Village of Reinfeld, and the Pine Ridge development, and North of Highway 14 will be the three main areas that we'll be drawing from, to begin with," Monster says.

Terry Penner is Secretary-Treasurer with GVSD. He notes the school was awarded to the division after longstanding enrolment pressure in many schools in Winkler. J.R Walkof will be converted to a K-3 school, while Emerado Centennial School will become a grade 4-8 school. New students moving into the feeder areas will be assigned to any school in Winkler depending on capacity.