The month of September is coming to a close, and schools are just now settling into their routine they'll be keeping up for the next ten or so months.

Students and teachers are returning to classrooms with similar COVID restrictions as what was in place at the end of last year - but the start of the year between now and 2021 is looking very different.

Southeast Cornerstone Public School division's Director of Education Keith Keating explains that everyone seems to be enjoying the more open start to this year.

"It's been very good, there's been a lot of excitement in the schools. We started the year in a more normal way than we have in the last couple. I've been very excited to see all the good things that are happening in schools across our division with welcoming people back to our schools."

Besides the dropped restrictions, students also seem to be generally happy that school has rolled around once again.

"Students for the most part seem to be excited to be back to a normal school to be in. It's been a couple of difficult years for students and staff coming into something a little bit different, but we know schools and communities will work together to provide the best opportunities for our youths as possible in the new school year."

Educational organizations have been critical ahead of the school year for budgetary reasons, as they felt that the province wasn't giving enough money for the school year.

Keating says that a bit of funding that came in just before the school year has helped brace the division against the impact of inflation.

"We had some teacher cuts that we had to have last year, but there was an addition of one-time funding from the province which was aimed at inflationary costs of transportation and staffing. We were fortunate to access some of that funding to put teachers back into the classroom."

Related Stories