Those at Prairie Rose School Division are looking forward to the start of the new school year. Superintendent Terry Osiowy says students returning to school on September 8th will notice some changes, no matter which school they're in. Over the summer work on a number of buildings has been taking place, ranging from a major gymnasium renovation in Carman to the revitalization of the elementary school wing at St. Laurent School, and other work at almost every school in between.

It's not just the school's facilities that will see major changes, with a number of changes to staff and their approach to teaching. One of those measures is the introduction of counsellors at each of the division's schools, something principals in the division have been looking for for quite some time. Osiowy notes that will mark a significant change for the division, which will help school's better address the emotional and social needs of the students.

"I think the problem we were struggling with was -- when we had the social workers moving throughout the division --the immediate ability to address student needs when they're struggling. Whether it was social/emotional issues or anti-bullying initiatives, we're going to have people in the building on a daily basis, and that's going to be a huge plus."

The division's also hiring some new employees to help their school's keep up with provincial mandates. With the ongoing focus on numeracy and literacy, Osiowy says they've introduced a Numeracy leader, Literacy Leader, a French Language Coordinator, and a Literacy With Information and Communication Technology position.

During last year's budget presentation, there was no shortage of discussion surrounding the complete overhaul of a number of the school's science labs. With a new government in place, Osiowy's not sure when they'll be able to see that move forward, but says they're hopefully they'll see that work taking place at some point,

"The province is sort of reviewing all of their capital expenditures. We're still under the impression that we will be, during the next couple of years, receiving new science labs at Miami, Elm Creek, St. Paul's Collegiate, and St. Laurent School. We just finished getting our Carman collegiate lab re-done."

Overall, Osiowy's looking forward to the upcoming school year, noting they've also seen some exciting changes among the senior admin team a new secretary-treasurer named.