In an effort to deal with overwhelming enrolment numbers at an east end elementary school, the Toronto public board is considering creating an all-kindergarten campus, according to a published report.

Thorncliffe Park Elementary, near Eglinton Avenue and the Don Valley Parkway, currently has more than 600 kindergarten students and is struggling to find solutions to deal with its ever-swelling student population.

The high numbers of new Canadians that are constantly moving into the area have caused the entire student population at the school to grow to nearly 2,000  – that’s about five times the city average. Thorncliffe Park Elementary, which has already outgrown a 2003 addition, only houses kids in junior kindergarten to Grade 5.

The province’s new full-day learning plan will place even more stress on administrators to come up with a creative way to handle so many tiny pupils. According to the report, the TDSB is seriously considering the idea of using a new building next to the existing school as a kindergarten-only facility.

The $16 million building is slated to go up in 2011, but how that space will be used and by which students, is still up in the air.

The cash for the new structure comes from a one-time $500 million fund from the province for capital priorities, the report states.