The Kenora Catholic District School Board has seen significant growth in its English as a Second Language program.

Ryan Larson is a teacher with the English Language Learners and says they have seen a 550 percent increase in enrolment in the past two years.

“Between fall of 2022 and fall of 2024, we’ve seen a huge growth in our English Language Learner population,” Larson told trustees at the December open meeting of the KCDSB.

“When I first started there was 10, which was a big number.  Now we have 56.”

Larson says the program represents a number of different countries, with about half coming from the Philippines.

“So, these 56 students, at the moment, we have 18 countries represented, and 20 home languages represented.”

He says every continent is represented with students coming from Chile, Columbia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.