Future scholars getting a head start

By LAUREEN McMAHON

Families can get their pre-schoolers off to a great educational start by signing up for a new early learning program which will help them prepare their children to do well in Kindergarten.

Funded through an Early Learning Grant from the provincial government, the program will be offered at all archdiocesan elementary schools which have a Kindergarten class, said Doug Lauson, Associate Superintendent of Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese.

"While the Catholic education system obviously serves the Catholic community," Lauson explained, "every Catholic family with a 3- or 4-year-old is welcome to sign up for the early learning program, not just those who plan on placing their child in a Catholic school."

In addition to the schools' contact information appearing in The B.C. Catholic, each elementary school, Lauson said, will let their feeder parishes know about the workshops and how parents can contact them.

Intended to support school readiness, the early learning program is for parents and caregivers of children not yet in Kindergarten.
Sessions will be facilitated by early childhood educators who will teach parents the best ways to help their child prepare for Kindergarten.

"The program is vital," said Lauson, "because statistics tell us that only one in every four children entering Kindergarten has the necessary developmental skills to do well in a formal school setting.

Catholic schools have been busy preparing for the early education program since last January, when Premier Gordon Campbell renewed his government's commitment to literacy, said Lauson.

"At that time, the premier announced he intended to make B.C. the most literate jurisdiction in North America by 2010. The CISVA is strongly on board to implement literacy programs which improve the learning outcomes for Catholic as well as all other students," said Lauson. "Preparing 3- and 4-year-olds to do well in Kindergarten is a win-win opportunity which Catholic schools are happy to co-operate with the government in providing."

A variety of issues which affect good learning outcomes will be addressed in the workshops such as cognitive, language, social and emotional, or physical developmental readiness.

The Early Learning Grant funding formula which the government has adopted to put this program in place, Lauson explained, works by taking the number of Kindergarten students already in school and multiplying by $65. An additional thousand dollars is intended to offset a school's internal expenses.

"Typically, schools will receive about $3,000 each to fund the work involved," Lauson noted.

Families registering for the course, he added, will receive a packet of information to further help them prepare their child for Kindergarten.

The superintendent's office, said Lauson, has begun arranging for sessions with a "trainer of trainers" who will teach educators appointed from each of the schools.

Catholic schools have been involved in past years with other literacy programs, such as the Ready, Set, Learn program, said Lauson, also designed to help pre-Kindergarten children get ready for school.

Check the preceding page and phone a school to check on dates and times and to register for the early learning course. The list of schools has also been posted on the CISVA Web site, www.cisva.bc.ca.