Hey, did you hear the rumour that enrolment is falling at St. Tim's and they're going to close their doors?

If you did, none of it is true. In fact, it's the complete opposite.

David Gowans, principal of St. Timothy High School has found himself having to douse flames after the rumours spread throughout the community. It got so bad that he had to call a staff meeting.

"It creates unnecessary fears," says Gowan. "I had to bring my staff together to say you need to know that none of these rumors are true. It even filtered to my trustee, and she weighed in with my superintendent.

"That's why we want to make sure that Cochrane knows we're growing, we are committed to being here in Cochrane to provide quality Catholic education, we're not for sale, and we are just a wonderful school that is now starting to enrol more and more students as we move into next year."

What may be at the root of the rumours is the shifting of grade 7 and 8 students to Holy Spirit, something that was a designed plan based upon the Calgary Catholic School District's Help Plan our Future process that included public consultation.

Because of that, they'll be fewer students at the high school in the fall, but overall, there's been a 30 per cent increase in enrolment of grade 9 students and 10 to 12 per cent more students in grades 10 to 12. That's without taking into account summer and fall registration.

The number of students entering grade 9 is a tell-tale number for a promising future.

"We've been very blessed. Our base population of grade 9s is a really positive trend that we're going to start seeing move forward and it will just open up new avenues for us. We'll be able to offer more as a high school experience. It's just a great thing we're seeing happening at St. Tim's this year."

If you ask him about some of the highlights of this school year, be prepared for a long list.

"All the hard work and success of our sporting teams from basketball to badminton to volleyball, wrestling, cross country and more, students taking outdoor Wildlife 20/30 classes and getting to spot a buck right in our backyard, the Terry Fox Run, our Indigenous Cultural Liaison making fry bread with our students, the Halloween performance of Frankenstein, the Halloweenie drive-thru for families and costume competitions, our Lenten service projects and all our band performances, including our concert band who had the chance to perform at Disneyland..."

That's the short version. You can find photos of many of their activities on Instagram here.

"We've worked really hard. We have an amazing school council that has been just prominent throughout Cochrane. With their efforts and the school's efforts, plus we've got a wonderful parent community, it has done a lot to give us a really good image now within the Town of Cochrane."

Registration remains open for the next school year, and he welcomes prospective families to contact the school.

"Right now, I'm personally meeting with each new perspective family just to make sure it will be a great fit for both the possible new student coming to our school as well as making sure that St. Tim's has the resources and capability of providing for some students that may have different needs. We want to make sure that before we say yes to each of those registrations, that's a good fit for everyone."

You can learn more about the school here.