Signs continue to spring up that the great decline in student enrolment that has impacted Southeast Kootenay School District 5, and almost every other school district in the province the past decade, is coming to an end.

The first official enrolment figures for the 2010 – 2011 school year are now in and the enrolment picture is not looking nearly as bleak as it was looking a few years ago.

As of Oct. 4, 2010, District 5 enrolment stood at 5,165 full time equivalent (FTE) students, according to a preliminary enrolment projection worksheet prepared by School District 5 Secretary Treasurer Rob Norum.

This is actually an 81 FTE increase from the same time last year, but a direct comparison can?t be made because some 200 half-time kindergarten students that attended classes last year and were counted as 100 FTE?s are being counted as 200 FTE?s this year because they now attend kindergarten full-time.

But kindergarten enrolment is up considerably this year with kindergarteners now the largest group of students from kindergarten to grade six and that?s reason for optimism, says Norum. ?The trend is going the right way.?

Mount Baker Secondary School continues to have the highest enrolment in the District with 965.1 FTE students enrolled as of Oct. 4. Baker is followed by Parkland Middle School with 450, Laurie Middle School 389, Fernie Secondary School 360.5, T.M. Roberts Elementary School with 326, Sparwood Secondary School with 306.8, Gordon Terrace Elementary School 287, F.J. Mitchell Elementary School 284.5, Isabella Dickens Elementary School with 270, Rocky Mountain Elementary School with 227, Amy Woodland Elementary School with 223, Kootenay Orchards Elementary School 205, Highlands Elementary Schools with 199, Elkford Secondary School 174, Steeples Elementary School with 171 and Pinewood Elementary School with 134.

School enrolment is critically important because each school receives approximately $8,000 in operating funding annually from Victoria for each student enrolled.

The 2011-2112 school year will give a more accurate picture of enrolment because all kindergarten students in the province will be attending school on a full-day basis and be counted as one FTE each.

On a provincial basis, some 541,917 full-time equivalent students were enrolled in the 2009-2010 school year, a decline of 3,350 students from the previous school year. A slightly smaller decline is expected this year.

Since 2001, enrolment has declined by more than 56,000 students across the province. This year will be the 13th consecutive year student enrolment has dropped but enrolment is projected to start increasing again by the 2013 – 2014 school year.