Charlottetown's Spring Park School overflowing

A school in Charlottetown that opened a little over a year ago is already overflowing its classrooms.

Spring Park Elementary opened in April 2013 with about 450 students in kindergarten to grade six. The school and the board won't reveal current enrolment numbers, but principal Terry MacIsaac will say there are between 50 to 60 more students now than last fall and on most days, additional students are arriving.

This fall the school created additional classrooms, using multi-purpose rooms that were supposed to be for project-based learning.

"Right now we're able to handle all our numbers. You know, we've done some re-arranging of classrooms inside, we've used some other areas that were designed for other purposes, and we've transformed them into classrooms," said MacIsaac.

"The district has been good to provide us with the materials necessary there, the shelving and everything else that goes into those rooms."

MacIsaac said the school has also staggered recess and lunch times so not all students are on the playground at once.

He attributes the growth to the popularity of the new school and an increasing local population. If the growth continues, he said, the board will have to look at other options.

The English Language School Board assesses schools every year where enrolment has increased substantially, said superintendent Cynthia Fleet, and will look at capacity in the area. There are three other elementary schools in the same section of Charlottetown: West Kent, Prince Street and Saint Jean.

A Spring Park Home and School representative told CBC News it realizes the school is getting full, and members are "in the process of discussing their concerns with the school and the board."

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