NDSS at capacity for Grade 8

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

Nanaimo District Secondary School is full for grade 8 next school year.

Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools posted an announcement on their registration page on their website dated May 4, 2024 saying that grade 8 is “at capacity at NDSS for the 2024-25 school year.”

According to NLPS director of communications, Gillian Robinson, all students that were registered in Grade 7 for the 2023-24 school year at NDSS feeder schools have a spot at NDSS starting in September. But a waitlist for English enrolment is now being taken over the summer for other students.

“Students who register from this point on for NDSS will be on the waitlist/placed at [John] Barsby [Secondary],” Robinson said in June.

“The NDSS catchment population continues to grow, with strong registration for French Immersion in the district.”

Measure put in place in 2023 to alleviate the congestion at NDSS, which has the largest student population in the district, “have allowed us to accommodate all Grade 7 NDSS feeder school students,” Robinson said. Measures have included installing two new portables as well as limiting international student enrolment at the school.

“It is very helpful for families to let their school or district registration know if they are moving out of the district/catchment as soon as they are able, or register as soon as they move to the district,” Robinson said.

NDSS is not the only school in the district potentially closing registration. In June, the school district posted an update that two north Nanaimo elementary schools could also close to registration for some grade levels for the upcoming school year. Growing enrolment at the north end of the district prompted the board of education to vote in favour of reopening a currently closed school, Rutherford Elementary, starting in September 2025. The board is also voting on new catchment boundaries for the north end in the fall.