Saskatoon Ukrainian bilingual school getting creative to deal with influx of students

With no end in sight to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more displaced people are coming to Saskatchewan and that influx is felt in a big way at the province’s only Ukrainian bilingual school.

Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School is rearranging a back room that used to be an exit to the playground to store desks to accommodate the influx of students.

“The building itself hasn’t grown in the sense of square footage. The computer lab is now a classroom, and our band room is getting renovated to be a classroom in case we need it. We’re making sure we have enough storage for things. We’re working on getting space for our special needs students also,” Principal Stacia Horbay-Ugalde told CTV News.

The student body has almost doubled over last year, the greatest increase of any school in the Catholic school division. There are as many as ten new students in some classrooms, according to the principal, which is putting staff to the test daily.

“The teachers have been incredible and stepped up amazingly, ensuring that education can still happen and socialization can still happen and friendships can still happen,” she says.

Horbay-Ugalde says they have seen students coming from other schools who originally registered in a neighbourhood school when they arrived.

“Often parents choose to send them to schools close to their new homes so they can walk and make friends in their area or not have to take a bus,” she said.

They have found some families realize having the added Ukrainian speakers at Bishop Filevich is beneficial for a smoother transition.

She says everyone in the building is trying to make do and accommodate the unprecedented increase. The division has hired more staff including an English language teacher.

“We are growing and growing rapidly and there’s a lot of change, and we have to be super flexible and adjust to change to meet everybody’s needs,” Margaret Duda, EAL teacher said.

There’s no end in sight, either.

“Long term planning is one of those things that we can’t too far ahead of ourselves because things may change again,” Duda says.

Portables have been ordered to help with the space crunch but those won’t arrive until next school year.

While the situation is adding stress for staff — the natural benefits for a bilingual school are not lost. With many subtle differences in the language across continents, having this wealth of language knowledge at their disposal is beneficial.

“Kids who were born in Canada have a definite advantage to be with native Ukrainian speakers absolutely and vise versa,” Duda added.

Danylo Puderak with The Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Saskatchewan confirmed there are about 2,100 new Ukrainians in the province with another charter flight of 200 arriving this week.

The exact number of children on that flight remains to be seen, but no matter the number, children on that plane coming to Saskatoon will be welcomed through their doors, said Horbay-Ugalde.