PRINCE ALBERT — The Prince Albert Catholic School Division hosted Summer Literacy Camps for the 16th consecutive year after receiving provincial funding.
Superintendent Wade Mourot updated the board on the success of the camps at the division’s regular meeting on Aug. 18.
Director of Education Lorel Trumier said they could not believe how successful the camps were in 2025.
"We have an allocation of $20,000 a summer to run camps and we did start small,” Trumier said. “We used to run it only in one school in the summer, but now we have reached out to three different schools and offer it in those three communities. Families can even participate anywhere in the city in one of those camps.”
St. John Community School, St. Catherine Catholic School and St. Michael Community School hosted camps this year. Ecole Holy Cross hosted in 2024 because of ongoing renovations at St. John.
According to the report, 166 students age six to eight and 170 aged nine to 11 participated at St. John Community School in the first week. In the second week at St. Catherine, those numbers were 197 and 141, respectively. At St. Michael, during the third week, those numbers were 81 and 34, respectively.
“To have over 600 children served in literacy projects and reading and activities in the summer just helps with keeping them connected to their literacy skills,” Trumier said.
The funding from the province allowed the division to hire two teachers and one support staff member for each class.
“We're just so proud of the program and the teachers who take that project on and the staff they they've done a great job and to serve 600 children is amazing,” she added.
Budget and PMR approved by Ministry of Education
The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has had both its 2025-2026 budget and Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR) approved by the Ministry of Education.
Director of Education Lorel Trumier said the approval was great news after a lot of hard work.
"After review, the ministry has signed off on that. We're just waiting for a document there from the minister's office,” she explained.
She said they expect to have the document approving the budget by the end of August.
"It's huge, because if we don't have that, we're back to the drawing board. In order for us to expend any funds for the 25-26 school year, that rubber stamp has to be on there, and there's quite a considerable amount of work that goes into making sure that all of our documents and plans are well documented and provided,” she said.
