“Great,” was the word of the day Monday as schools in the Vicksburg Warren School District got off to a new year.

At Vicksburg High School, classes kicked off to a “great start,” Principal Derrick Reed said.

“We’ve had a very good first day thus far,” Reed said at midmorning. “The students are in their classrooms and we are all just ready to get back to it.”

Nearly 1,160 students are enrolled at Vicksburg High. About 800 of them ride school buses, which unloaded Monday just before 7 a.m., Reed said. The school also welcomed several new teachers this year and has “a few new courses offered to help our students.”

One, Core Essentials, is an extra English class offered to English 2 students who later this year will take the subject-area test required for graduation, Reed said. Core Essentials will give them an extra dose of instruction in English and writing to sharpen their skills.

“We just want a great school year,” Reed said. “We hope to improve and keep on improving.”

The VWSD had about 8,900 students at its 15 schools last year, according to its Children First 2011 Report filed with the state Department of Education. Total enrollment for 2011-12 will not be known for several weeks, as students continue to register and report for classes.

“It’s been really great,” said Dr. Elizabeth Swinford, superintendent, Monday afternoon. “We did a lot of work ahead of time to make sure kids had their schedules. There were a few glitches, which we took care of, and at the elementary schools some parents were still registering their kids.”

Vicksburg Catholic School’s 570 students will return to classes Wednesday, and Porters Chapel Academy’s 230 are scheduled to show up Thursday.

At mid-morning Monday, Warrenton Elementary had 381 students enrolled, kindergarten through sixth grade, lead teacher Tina Cochran said.

“We’ve been registering kids all morning, mostly kindergartners,” she said. At least one shed a few tears but was quickly comforted and led to his classroom.

“We had a great beginning of the day. They’re excited,” Cochran said of the students. “We had orientation Thursday for all grades, with a big turnout. It was the biggest attendance we’ve had.”

In addition to new students, Warrenton welcomed new teachers and assistants in several grades and a new physical education teacher. Teachers had special decorations up in the hallways to welcome kids back to school, like a Hollywood-themed movie reel highlighting sixth-graders.

Extra deputies were on duty both morning and afternoon, and will be all week, to monitor the roads and traffic into and around the schools, said Sheriff Martin Pace.

“We had very heavy traffic at all of the schools but no major incidents,” Pace said. “The first several days of school a lot of elementary students will be brought to school by their parents but will later ride the bus. We expect to see a drop in the traffic later in the week.”

“We always have a little bit of traffic at this time, with the mommies and daddies bringing in paper towels and the kids’ other supplies,” Swinford said. “We will have to adjust some bus routes, but we always have to do that. For the first day, though, the buses were on time, school started on time and the kids had happy smiles.”

Swinford added that students who came to VHS or Warren Central High School dressed in violation of the district’s dress code were sent home, a practice she said will continue.

A complete dress code description for each school is printed in student handbooks and also available on the district’s website, www.vwsd.k12.ms.us.