As the summer winds down, the administration team at Humboldt Collegiate Institute has wound up for another school year.

Students return to classes on September 1, but well before that, plenty of work takes place in the office at HCI.

"Right around the beginning of August, our admin team comes together," Principal Cory Popoff said. "We sit down and plan out the course of the year, do lots of planning and preparation.."

Popoff's workload is assisted by Vice-Principals Shaun Gardiner and Dave Millette.

Among the items that the trio overlooks in the month leading up to the school year is enrollment. Determining how many students are in each grade and how they can best work out numbers for classes.

For 2016, Popoff says that they are right around what they have averaged.

"We're roughly 90 a grade and we always seem to have a few extra register at the beginning of the year. We do have healthy numbers coming in, so we look forward to growing and getting better as a school."

Teachers returned to work on August 24, and most of their week is spent in meetings and finding new ways to help students learn, according to Popoff.

"I know our teachers do a lot of preparing for their classes," he said. "A lot of them are committed to professional development in the summer time. Often they take that learning and integrate it within their practice and planning for the classroom. It's a time for teachers to get ready and try new things."

With new students continually coming to the school each year, an orientation night is held the week prior to classes beginning, allowing both parents and students a chance to familiarize themselves with the school.

"It's basically an opportunity to connect and explore ways to use communication with parents and the students," explained Popoff. "We do use quite a bit of technology in our communication, so it is always good to plug-in our students and their parents."

Popoff says that students or parents who feel timid about the bump up to high school usually have that wear off fairly quick.

"For the most part, parents that are new to high school are nervous and anxious like the students, but they find out after the meeting that it's really not scary to be at HCI," he said of the orientation night. "There is a little bit of climatization, but it only takes a week or two before everyone feels like they're at home."

He added that having students quickly adjust to their new setting is a tribute to staff at the school and their welcoming of students.