The school year is starting with foreign enrollment up 10 per cent in the Okanagan-Skaha School District.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - It's back to school next week, and there are some changes and new programs coming to the Okanagan-Skaha School District. 

School district superintendent Wendy Hyer says the district’s International Student Program has grown by 10 per cent this year, with 116 students from Japan, Mexico, China, Germany, Korea, Spain, Vietnam and Taiwan enrolled. 

Hyer says implementation of B.C.’s renewed curriculum will occur at the grade 10 level this year, with grades 11 and 12 happening next year.

Curriculum redesign is taking place in British Columbia in an effort to respond to the rapidly changing demands brought on by technology. Following consultation with education experts, the curriculum redesign intends to maintain focus on sound educational foundations like literacy and numeracy, while supporting the development of competent thinkers and communicators. The heart of B.C.’s redesigned curriculum involves the core competencies, essential learning and literacy and numeracy foundations.

Princess Margaret School has received approval to apply to become an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Candidate School this fall, Hyer says. The International Baccalaureate program emphasizes students’ personal development under a unique academic program.

Students benefit from the program by emphasizing independent thinking and creating the urge for students to drive their own learning. Students become more culturally aware through development of a second language in addition to taking part in programs that can lead them to some of the highest ranking universities around the world.

Hyer says district staff are continue to support the Board of Education’s Strategic Plan, details of which are located on the district’s website.

The first day of the school year is Wednesday, Sept. 5.

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