A five-year-old kindergarten student at École Dundonald School in Saskatoon died on Monday.
At around 10:50 a.m. CT, police were called to an “emergency incident” in the 100-block of Wedge Road.
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Police said attempts were made to locate the missing boy, who was found minutes later and taken to hospital by paramedics where the student was pronounced dead.
The name of the student has not been released.
The director of education at the Saskatoon Public Schools division, Barry MacDougall, said he believes the student was found in the pond.
“During morning recess, the student couldn’t be located. Staff members contacted 911 for assistance and the student was located at the pond and transported to the hospital,” he said.
“The family was contacted and attended at the hospital and the school was later informed that the student died. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time, the time of this devastating loss.”
MacDougall said there are no immediate plans to fence off the pond.
“There is always a supervision plan in place and certainly the various areas around the school, particular people are assigned to watch and we’ll be looking into that as part of our investigation,” MacDougall said.
“The plan at the school obviously would take the pond into account.”
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MacDougall said it became obvious that the best people to look after the school’s students at this time were their families and so classes were cancelled for the afternoon.
École Dundonald School has around 500 students and most classes are expected to resume on Tuesday. The kindergarten classes typically does not have class that day.
“We will work with the families to find out what’s most appropriate in their circumstances,” MacDougall said.
“We had a number of counsellors and senior administrators go out to the school immediately this morning as soon as we heard that there was a crisis in hand. And those supports will remain in place for as long as the school needs them.”
Saskatoon police determined the incident to be non-suspicious in nature.
The office of the chief coroner is investigating the death.
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