For a number of Edmonton families, their arrival at school Tuesday morning was a little more chaotic than others – as several schools still have to get creative to handle high student enrollment.

“I was a little bit confused at first, because we didn’t exactly know what was going on,” Erin Lerner, a mother whose children attend Sister Annata Brockman School, said Tuesday.

Lerner and her son Evan found out Tuesday that he’ll be in a class of 50 Grade 3 students, supervised by two teachers, and held in the library of the school this year.

“It was a little bit of a shock, you kind of think, all the negative thoughts come to mind,” Lerner said.

“It’s not ideal to have a child learning perhaps in the gym or in an art room, but the other side of that equation is they still have their own space, they still are in a learning environment,” Edmonton Catholic Schools spokesperson Lori Nagy said.

The school division said high enrollment has left schools doing what they can to deal with high enrollment numbers.

It’s a struggle both school divisions are facing, with a shortage of classrooms and a wait for portables.

“We are one of the schools in a growing neighbourhood in Edmonton and had to make some changes,” Lisa Wright, principal at Michael Strembitsky school said Tuesday.

One measure carried out by Edmonton Public Schools meant changing enrollment boundaries, Wright said those changes meant about 200 students were moved to other schools this fall.

“Of course as a parent we’d love the classroom sizes not so large, so we hope with the new changes, it will accommodate learning needs,” Parent Carolyn Wentzel said.

For students at Sister Annata Brockman School, alternate classrooms will be the norm, as the school division said more space will likely not become available this year.

Meanwhile, Edmonton Catholic Schools is waiting for 16 portables to arrive – but those will go to other schools, as officials said Sister Annata Brockman is filled to capacity, including space on the property.

It’s hoped the delayed portables will arrive by Christmas.

With files from Ashley Molnar