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Bankhead elementary school is one of 23 schools where full day kindergarten could be introduced next year. (Photo John McDonald)
Update: 10/01/13
School trustees have approved a recommendation from staff that will see full-day kindergarten introduced in 21 elementary schools for the 2010/11 school year.
The recommendation will see 810 of 830 seats dispersed through the 21 schools, with 20 held back to accommodate registration “drift” from parents who may move their children to another school, either because they want full-day kindergarten or don’t.
Trustees were concerned about the potential for the two-step introduction of full-day kindergarten to create two and even three-way split classes. Ultimately, they accepted the superintendent’s recommendation and approved the recommendation.
By John McDonald
Central Okanagan school district staff will take to the board next week a recommendation on how to allocate full-day Kindergarten seats amongst qualifying schools.
Superintendent of schools Hugh Gloster told Kelowna.com the Ministry of Education has changed slightly the formula it is using for introducing full-day Kindergarten, allocating a specific number of seats rather than individual schools.
“We are getting 830 full-day seats, 60 per cent of our enrollment, which is actually better than we thought we would get” said Gloster.
The superintendent said that will translate into the the introduction of full-day Kindergarten in approximately 19 of the 23 elementary schools within the district for the 2010/2011 school year.
District staff are working on the final details of which schools they think should make the cut for this year, basing it on the original criteria from the ministry, including the vulnerability levels of kids in the various school communities.
“The whole thing comes back to where does it make most sense for the kids,” said Gloster. “Ultimately it’s a political decision for the board.”
Gloster would not reveal which schools his staff would be recommending.
Regardless of which are chosen, the process has delayed Kindergarten registration for next year, which normally would have started by now. Instead, Gloster said registration would begin Feb. 1 and run until March 5.
Parent information nights concerning full-day and French immersion Kindergarten and are scheduled for Jan. 19 in Kelowna, Jan. 20 in Lake Country and Jan. 25 in West Kelowna.
Gloster said parent interest in full-day Kindergarten is high, but opinion is still divided.
“We find a number of parents are saying ‘please, hurry up, the faster the better, we believe in it’ because it solves parenting problems,” he added. “Then there are others who are concerned about it, who reflect back on their own experiences and say ‘you know, Kindergarten all day, I don’t know, I’m not sure little Johnny is ready for that’.”
But whether parents are sure about it or not, the province is moving quickly to implement what it considers a first step in early childhood intervention that will eventually encompass new-borns. Gloster said his staff have already been asked to do advance planning for curriculum programming aimed at four-year-olds.
The board of education will consider full-day Kindergarten at the Jan. 13 board meeting, 6 p.m. in the school district office at 1940 Underhill Rd.
john@kelowna.com
250-575-0521
Tags: board of education, full-day kindergarten, school district 23
