All day kindergarten confirmed for two east-end schools

Ottawa Catholic School Board’s Our Lady of Wisdom on St. Georges Street and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s (OCDSB) Convent Glen Public on Grey Nuns Drive will offer all-day learning to four- and five-year-olds come September.

The two schools will be the first in the east-end to teach youngsters throughout the day in what will be a phase-in of all-day kindergarten across the province. All schools are expected to offer full-day kindergarten by Sept. 2015.

Overall, the local Catholic board will offer all-day kindergarten at 11 of its schools while 22 OCDSB schools will offer the program next school year.

Under the program, teachers and early childhood educators will work together to help four- and five-year-olds learn during the regular school day. Schools will also offer extended day programs, before and after regular school hours, which will be led by registered early childhood educators. There will be a fee for these programs, and subsidies will be available for some families, based on financial need. Fees will be determined by school boards.

The province, meanwhile, is adding funds to help local school boards get the program off the ground.

One stipulation attached to funding for phase one of the five-phase program is that the school hosting full-day kindergarten not need any physical or capital improvements to house the extra students, Orléans-Cumberland Catholic trustee Stephen Blais indicated in an earlier interview.

“Our Lady of Wisdom has the capacity without the need to build,” he said, noting the school’s boundaries were changed a few years ago to bring more students into the facility and keep the school open.

Instead of capital improvements, funding this year will go toward human resource costs and, as the program is phased in, money from the province will increase, Blais continued. He added the school board expects to see money for capital improvements by year two or three.

“There will be a need for funding for capital improvements,” Blais said. “Space is our largest constraint.”

While the program will ultimately cost more money to run and will require capital investments in the coming years, Blais indicated he supports full-day kindergarten.

According to Blais, children who attend full-day early learning programs have improved academic performance and social success when they enter Grade 1.

“The most successful societies of the future will be the best educated,” he said. “By investing in full-day learning, we are investing in the future success of our children and our nation.”

The public board’s Convent Glen, meanwhile, is one of the smaller elementary schools in the east.

“Convent Glen ES is the perfect school to launch this exciting new program,” Orléans-Cumberland public board trustee John Shea said in a statement released when the board first announced its list of schools. “All-day kindergarten will be a great complement to the school’s thriving English and Middle French Immersion programs.”