Calgary school board assessed thousands of newcomer students ahead of school year
CBC
Calgary student Sofia Proshyna is still working to translate what she's hearing while she's at school, but she's getting better all the time.
She's a Grade 10 student at Centennial High School who started school in Calgary in February. She and her family recently moved to Canada from Ukraine.
"It's just for me, it's just a little bit harder than for other students," she said.
"Sometimes my brain doesn't work in English. I hear what somebody said to me, but I can't understand it. But I know these words, but can't understand it in this sentence."
Organizations that support newcomer students say the number of students they're supporting has vastly increased. This comes as schools are already overcrowded.
The CBC spoke to Calgary teachers and newcomer support groups about what that means for city schools.
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Frank Cattoni, the CEO of the Calgary Bridge Foundation For Youth, an organization that works with school boards to help young newcomers entering local schools, said there's been a "several 100-fold" increase in the number of students the organization is supporting, and they're setting new records monthly.
"We are seeing young people that are very vulnerable — that require additional supports," he said.
"Where do you go next? It takes a long time to build new schools, and in the meantime the pressure is happening right now."
The Calgary Board of Education Welcome Centre registered 7,771 non-Canadian citizen students between July 1, 2022 and May 19, 2023.
The CBE also completed 2,028 English language assessments since the beginning of July — about 108 assessments per day. These assessments determine where to place newcomers in classrooms.
The Calgary Catholic School District told CBC its reception centre has registered approximately 1,200 students between July 17 and Sept. 1, a similar amount to last year.
Bindu Narula, director of resettlement and integration services at the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, said the organization is working to support teachers, who will sometimes text their staff asking for additional support.
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