A popular bilingual Mandarin program continues to grow in the Tri-Cities with a new school being added to handle the student population.
On Tuesday, the board of education approved expanding the program, currently at Walton, to Scott Creek middle when this year's crop of about 30 Grade 5 students are ready to graduate to the next level in September, 2015.
"This is a very sought after program," confirmed assistant superintendent Sylvia Russell, who said three time as many students register for the program as can be accommodated.
Currently about 250 kindergarten to Grade 5 students are learning in both English and Mandarin at Walton in a program modeled after a similar one in Edmonton.
The program is free, and one of School District 43's expanding roster of choice courses.
Scott Creek is expected to be able to handle the additional students, most of whom live in the area, however some limits may have to be placed on cross-catchment and international education students because 150 students are expected transition from Walton to middle school in the next four to five years.
Gleneagle secondary is expected to be the high school for the Mandarin program in the future.
