The Creighton Community School would generally expect about 200 students from Denare Beach to make the daily trip for classes in the border city, but this year is different.
Some of those students of Denare Beach return after their family houses were destroyed when a forest fire crossed the Northern village earlier this summer. It is possible that some students have not returned this year.
Before the new school year, Creighton’s staff contacted families affected by the forest fire to inform them about the additional support available for students, said Steve Lytwyn, director of Education of the Creighton School Division, which consists only of Creighton’s K-12 community school.
“Each child is different, so some students will want that support immediately when they get to the doors,” Lytwyn said in an interview.
“Other students may want to go to class and have a bit of regular routine or normality, as much as you can say that after such a traumatic summer.”
The school brought additional counselors, and the staff received training this summer that focused on responding to traumatic events, said Lytwyn.
Creighton, who shares a border with Flin Flon, man, is about 15 kilometers north of Denare Beach and the closest community with a school. Last year, the school recorded around 190 of its 463 students from the Denare Beach area, which includes the community of the Peter Ballantyne nation believes in the town.
It is not yet known how many students from Denare Beach, affected by the forest fire, where around 200 families lost their homes to the forest fire, they return during the first week of class.
The resident of Denare Beach, Brooke Kindel, currently lives in Creighton with her husband and three children in a camper staked in the rental property of her parents. Kindel and his parents lost their homes to the forest fire.
Like many displaced families, they are waiting outside their control to decide where they end during the year.
If the basis for reconstructions spill before snow arrives and can build a store, the Kinders could move their caravan there while building a new house. If the foundations have to wait until spring, they could move to Saskatoon during the year.
“Everyone is very, very busy trying to find a place for winter, so it is quite competitive to find a contractor,” Kindel said.
“I have been really grateful for so many people understanding the difficult position in which we are all. It is difficult to explain that we literally know where we are going to live next week, but that is just the reality of the situation. And it seems that this is how the whole summer has been.”
His eldest son, Jackson, goes to a third year of pre-Kindergarten, while the middle boy Logan has been in the nursery this summer, but he would normally be at home during the day. Callie, the daughter, was born approximately one month after the family evacuated Denar Beach.
Back to a routine will help her children, especially her older, Kindel said.
“It’s confusing if you move because all those children are always together,” he said.
“He knows everyone in his class. So he really wants to see everyone and I hope we can stay, because it will be quite annoying if I have to take it out. But I don’t know what else to do.”
After forest fire evacuations, it is important that schools facilitate access to education regardless of where students end, the Canadian schoolmaker association recently told CBC News.
When a student moves schools for the typical reasons, a new school will ask the old school for the student’s archive. Lytwyn expects those requests to arrive in the coming weeks, giving Creighton school a better idea of what displaced students are returning and which are recorded for school in other places.
Lytwyn said families should communicate with school if they are worried that a child returning to class or talking about their plans for the school year.
“If technically they no longer live in Creighton or Denare Beach, we want the best for them where they are currently living,” Lytwyn said.
Forest fires destroyed the city of Denare Beach, Sask., A few weeks ago. On Wednesday, residents began to return to see what is left of their homes.
