The Educational and Facilities Planning department manages the collection, analysis, and reporting of enrolment and educational program data and provides short, medium, and long-term enrolment projections for the District, Families of Schools, and Individual school catchments.  These projections are used to plan for student enrolment, staffing needs, budget forecasting, space use planning, and annual capital planning. 

Enrolment Projections

The Enrolment Update Report 2025 provides a snapshot of the VSB’s student enrolment and outlines long-term enrolment projections. It was presented to the Facilities Planning Committee on June 16, 2025. 

Enrolment for the Current School Year

This data is reported by school and is based on enrolment for the 2025-2026 school year as of September 30, 2025.

3-Year Enrolment Projections

Every February, school districts throughout British Columbia are required to report projected enrolment for the upcoming 3 school years. The VSB’s current 3-year projection report can be found here and was presented to the board on February 11, 2026. 

District Enrolment and Capacity Utilization Considerations

Capacity utilization and space use at schools varies across the District. At present, there is a net surplus in student capacity across the District. There are also areas of Vancouver that are experiencing enrolment pressures where schools have insufficient capacity to accommodate catchment student enrolment demand.

Despite an overall increase in Vancouver’s population, both the birth rate and the number of school-aged children generally have declined in recent years. This pattern has also persisted over the past 26-year history as demographics and family structures have changed. Although there is growth of school-aged children in some high-density areas such as Broadway Corridor, Cambie Corridor, and the Downtown core, this is offset by the declining number of school aged children in other areas of Vancouver. Several factors contribute to the enrolment declines, including reduced birth rate, changes in immigration, and housing supply and unaffordability resulting in some families with school aged children moving out of the city.

Enrolment Management Strategies

For areas experiencing enrolment pressure where schools have insufficient capacity to accommodate students, the District uses enrolment management strategies in accordance with procedures set out in AP 300 Admission to School.

Enrolment management strategies are used for the following purposes:

• To ensure continuity and stability for students and their families
• To provide equitable access to programs and support educational programming
• To maximize the number of students that can be accommodated at catchment schools
• To ensure efficient and effective use of resources allocated to staffing schools

Enrolment management strategies that are used by the District to maximize student accommodation at schools experiencing enrolment pressures:

• Restricting Out of Catchment Enrolment
• Placing Students from full schools at nearby school with available space
• Maintaining order catchment waitlists
• Aligning the timeline for placement offers for Kindergarten Choice programs with full school catchment enrolment offers

After applying these strategies, the District will identify the need for additional school capacity in areas with sustained enrolment pressures in its annual Five-Year Capital Plan submission to the Province.

Kindergarten Catchment School Enrolment

The linked table shows the number of kindergarten spots by catchment school (regular English program) and the number of students requiring placement in other schools as of March 16, 2026. This does not include Kindergarten District Choice Program data.     

Some of the Vancouver School District schools have inadequate physical space to accommodate in-catchment applicants and require enrolment management strategies in place to provide sound and equitable education. The list of schools experiencing capacity pressures varies annually.

Kindergarten District Choice Enrolment

There are sixteen schools providing District Choice programs in the Vancouver School District. The linked table lists the number of applicants and waitlists for the District Choice programs as of March 16, 2026.