SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Given the chance to ask questions and tour the halls of his new school Aiden Richardson, who will be among the crop of about 100 Grade 8 students to enter St. Patrick's High School in September, says he is feeling a bit better about the move.

Holly Menton, left, and future Grade 8 students Jordan Anderson and Chinelle Besarra, and parent Tanya Morais get a tour of the newly established Grade 8 wing at St. Pat's from vice-principal Todd Stewart. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo

"I don't really know what to think of it," Richardson said.

"I'm excited but I'm a bit nervous about the big change, with people I don't know and people who are a lot older than me."

The decision to move Grade 8 students from both Weledeh School and St. Joseph School on Range Lake Road to St. Pat's downtown, was seen as a solution to overcrowding at St. Joseph School. Students going into Grade 8 next year will move from St. Joseph School on Range Lake Road, and Weledeh to St. Pat's downtown. Grade 8 students at Weledeh School will also be affected. Only offering pre-kindergarten to Grade 7, the school will be at 74 per cent capacity in the 2015-2016 school year, compared to 78 per cent if Grade 8 remained.

In September, St. Joe's would have been at 99 per cent capacity, Claudia Parker, Yellowknife Catholic Schools superintendent, told more than 80 parents and students who gathered in the St. Pat's gym on Thursday. By the 2019-2020 school year, she said that projection would be up to 108 per cent capacity.

With Grade 8 moved to St. Pat's, capacity will drop to 88 per cent at St. Joe's, which Parker said is still on the high side. Once a school reaches 85 per cent, the school board enters into discussion with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment about alleviating overcrowding.

"This is not a one-year problem at St. Joe's," Parker said.

The move came quickly, Parker said. It was a little less than two weeks ago through board and staff meetings the decision was made to move Grade 8s to St. Pat's.

"It was a quick decision because we didn't think this was the way we had to go," Parker said.

Since the move was made official, administration has been working to sort out the logistics.

"Think of it as a school within a school," said Todd Stewart, St. Pat's vice-principal.

Classes will start for Grade 8 students at 9:05 a.m., and the day will be broken up into approximately 40-minute periods, rather than the 80-minute periods of high school students.

Grade 8s will have specialized classes in math, science, language arts and others, rather than homerooms, Stewart said. They will also have gym class every other day, all year.

With access to more facilities in the high school than at the elementary schools, students will have afternoon classes in industrial arts, such as robotics, woodworking or hairstyling, as well as fine arts.

Seeing more options available, parent Holly Menton saw the move as a good thing, but said it would be hard having two younger children still at St. Joe's.

"It's going to be a hard transition but it's gong to happen anyway, so let's just get it going," said Menton.

Some details of the move are still being sorted out, Parker said.

Students coming from St. Joe's will have to take public transit to the new school. The start and end times differ between the high school and elementary, so a shared school bus route won't be possible. Whether the bus passes will be covered by the school board or left to parents, she said has not been determined.

Five classes in total will be moved to St. Pat's: three English classes which will each have 23 students, and two French classes that will have around 15 students each, said Stewart.

A wing of the school has been designated for the Grade 8s, as well as a classroom that will be supervised for their use during the lunch hour - though the Rock Cafe and atrium are open to them.

Stewart said, "They are going to have more freedom but all of the supports will be here."