High school graduation rates in the Sooke School District have risen to the highest levels ever with marked improvements for at least one traditionally disadvantaged group.
The number of aboriginal student graduates last year was 116, which school superintendent Jim Cambridge said could be a record, but he wants to see those numbers grow.
Girl graduation rates also improved by a wide margin, going from 73.5 to 77 per cent, while graduating boys went relatively unchanged from 75.8 per cent to 75.3.
Overall, last year’s grad rate is 76.1 per cent, an increase of 1.5 per cent over the previous year. The overall provincial grad rate also improved with almost 84 per cent of students graduating within six years of entering Grade 8.
“It’s huge in the numbers we’re talking here ... for us it’s almost 800 students,” said Cambridge.
“We’re happy with the results this year, they’ve come in higher than expected,” Cambridge said.
He added these are the highest results the Sooke School District has ever received.