SD8 begins implementation of full day kindergarten
By Nelson Daily Editor
By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily
Full day kindergarten is now in full effect in most areas of the school district, with the program expected to land in Nelson next year, says the superintendent of schools.
Jeff Jones confirmed that Nelson will be the next phase of the full day kindergarten (FDK) program in School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake).
Currently the school district is being funded for 180 spaces to implement full day kindergarten this year, with elementary schools in the Slocan Valley, Creston, Salmo and North Kootenay Lake as the first educational institutions to incorporate the new program.
With Nelson entering into the equation in the fall of 2011, there will be an estimated total of 325 registrations for kindergarten, Jones predicted.
“Full day kindergarten extends the learning opportunities they once had in half day classes,” said Jones. “It gives teachers the opportunity to get to know the learning requirements of each student better. It gives us more space to identify challenges that kids may have early in their school career.
“But there are also plenty of kids that are more than ready for school, and we can really support those kids and give them a head start.”
FDK will provide students with programs to build early literacy and numeracy skills at a critical time in the school career, said Jones. Between the age of four and five there is a huge gap in the developmental trajectory of children, he said, so not all children are as ready for kindergarten as others.
“For some of those young four-year-olds that is a long day for them,” he said.
Next year the Ministry of Education predicts all schools in the province will provide a full day kindergarten program — which will continue to be an optional program.
In order to bring some of the schools up to capacity to handle the enrolment — previous kindergarten classes were split into morning and afternoon groups — SD8’s board of trustees passed third reading on a bylaw Oct. 12 for $45,000 for “equipping funds” for implementation of a capital project to accommodate full day kindergarten.
Jones said the money was needed to create a space to house the extra, full-time students.
“Most schools are in the position to have to set up more kindergarten learning spaces,” he said. “Before, some schools might have had kindergarten classrooms, but they had half the children there at one time.”
Students enrolled in schools with FDK will be expected to attend school all day for five days per week, going from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
In the FDK program, kindergarten students attend school on the same schedule as all other elementary students, following the framework of the primary program.
No new curriculum will be added, and there will be an emphasis on play-based learning.
For more information on full day kindergarten, see http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/fdk/qa.htm.
