Parents can register their children for all-day Kindergarten programs at eight local schools, the province announced Tuesday.
MPP Bill Mauro (Thunder Bay – Atikokan) made the provincial announcement at St. Vincent School Tuesday. During his announcement, Mauro said the final push to have a full-school day for young children came after a June report that outlined the need for early education.
"The report supports the instinct of the government and the premier," Mauro said. "Now is the perfect time. This spring we will see the roll out of this program. (We want) to give four or five year olds as early of a start as possible."
The program is voluntary, but the MPP said he expects parents will take the offer. The province is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into the program with a goal to have all schools offer a full day of learning by 2010-16, he added.
This fall the government will try to have 580 schools across the province offer the program. More than 35,000 Kindergarten students are expected to attend. The government estimates that full implementation could cost $1.5 billion by 2015-16.
"There is work for the boards going forward obviously, but the work to get us to this point has already been done," he said.
Cathi Siemieniuk, director of education for Lakehead Public Schools, said she applauds the government's decision and was happy to see they approved all the schools that submitted for the program. She said she looks forward to see the plans for next September.
"We really see this as an opportunity to expand upon what we already committed to," Siemieniuk said. "Trustees have certainly made that commitment so now we are looking to expand that to all of our schools within the next five years."
The Ontario Government will release a standardize curriculum for all the schools using the program. The curriculum would set out to prepare Kindergarten students for Grade 1.
John De Faveri, director of education for the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, said the full school day has many benefits for students and parents.
"It should help out (parents) with their daycare arrangements," De Faveri said. "They will have the ability to drop off their child early in the morning and they will be in one location for the entire day. If they work they do not have to rush to come and pick them up."
Schools offering all-day Kindergarten include:
- St. Vincent School, Thunder Bay
- McKellar Park School, Thunder Bay
- Sherbrooke School, Thunder Bay
- Corpus Christi School, Thunder Bay
- Westmount School, Thunder Bay
- St. Patrick’s School, Atikokan
- North Star Community School, Atikokan
- Algonquin Avenue School, Thunder Bay
- Vance Chapman School, Thunder Bay
- Holy Saviour School, Marathon
- Margaret Twomey Public School, Marathon
For more information on the program, visit the Ministry of Education’s website.
