Full-time Kindergarten at GES
Derek Kilbourn
derek@soundernews.com
Monday, February 1 2010
Gabriola Elementary School will be amongst the 18 schools in the district to offer full-day Kindergarten starting in September 2010.
The Ministry of Education is phasing in full-day Kindergarten over the next two years, with approximately half of the students in BC being offered full-day Kindergarten in September 2010 and all students offered the program in September 2011.
In School District 68, approximately 60 percent of the Kindergarten students will be able to attend full-day classes next fall, including those on Gabriola.
Assistant superintendent, Chris Southwick, said that the selection of schools was a difficult process, because the district is well aware that parents at all schools would like to take advantage of the program.
A major consideration was whether there was the physical space in a school for a full-day program, Southwick said. We also wanted to ensure that we first offered the program in neighbourhoods where there are high levels of child vulnerability.
This needed to be balanced with enrolment projections, to be sure we were not creating overcrowding issues in future years. We also wanted to maintain consistency across neighbourhoods and programs.
Southwick said there is much work ahead as the district consults with school principals and Kindergarten teachers to implement the new program.
We know that there are many benefits for students and their parents with full-day Kindergarten, and we look forward to next fall and beyond that to September 2011 when we will be able to offer the full-day program to all students.
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