SD5 graduation rates higher than B.C. average

A year into the pandemic, students appear to be doing very well all things considered, with the graduation completion rate for SD5 students in the 2019-2020 year being reported as 91 percent.

According to SD5, the rate is well above the provincial average, and one of the highest achieved by SD5 in recent years.

The SD5 Indigenous completion rate for 2019-2020 was also 80 percent, one of the highest rates in the province.

Over the last five years, provincial graduation rates have average 62 percent for Indigenous students, and 80 percent for non-Indigenous students.

A year ago, as COVID-19 changed the way schooling was delivered, students and parents had to pivot to understanding online schooling, and accepting a year with relatively little in the way of in-person class, along with pared-back graduation ceremonies.

SD5 chair, Frank Lento said that it hadn’t been an easy year for anyone.

“But thanks to the hard work of the SD5 Board, administration, both teaching and non-teaching staff, students and parents, it has been a successful one for SD5.”

“The SD5 Board of Education wishes to thank the entire school community for this success”, says Lento, “It was the hard work of all teaching and non-teaching staff, the cooperation of the teaching (CFTA) and non-teaching (CUPE) Union partners and the perseverance of students and parents collectively that enabled the SD5 school community to overcome the challenges to education posed by the pandemic.”