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NEWS RELEASE
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For Immediate Release June 4, 2010 |
Ministry of Education
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COWICHAN CELEBRATES MOBILE STRONGSTART BC
COWICHAN VALLEY – StrongStart BC was on-the-go today at the official openings of the StrongStart BC centre at Chemainus Community Elementary school and the StrongStart BC outreach project held on the Community Resource Bus, announced Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid.
“The StrongStart BC program is an important resource for early childhood learning, and I am thrilled to see the program is expanding in smaller communities across B.C.” said Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid. “The delivery of the StrongStart BC program through the Community Resource Bus is an innovative way to give families in this school district greater access to resources that will help prepare the province’s youngest learners to enter kindergarten.”
StrongStart BC is a free early learning program for preschool-aged children accompanied by a parent or caregiver. A qualified early childhood educator leads activities, including stories, music, and arts, to help children grow linguistically, emotionally and socially, and become comfortable in a school-like setting.
All of B.C.’s 60 school districts have been offered the opportunity to participate in the StrongStart BC program. The Province is investing $43 million to expand StrongStart BC, with more than 310 programs now operating across the province. StrongStart BC centres help fulfil government’s commitment to use underutilized school district space to deliver early learning services.
The Community Resource Bus delivers the StrongStart BC program to a number of locations in the Cowichan Valley: Crofton Elementary, Kuper Island, Lake Cowichan, the Malahat First Nation’s Reserve and on Sherman Road in Duncan. The Community Resource Bus is a partnership between the Cowichan Valley school district, the Cowichan Family Life Association and the Ministry of Education.
“Our school district is happy to have again partnered with the Ministry of Education to celebrate the official opening of the two StrongStart BC programs, one at Chemainus Elementary Community school and the other on the Community Resource Bus,” said Cowichan Valley board chair Candace Spilsbury. “Early learning initiatives are very important to the development of preschoolers and the availability of these programs in smaller communities provides an important service to families.”
This school year the Cowichan Valley school district received $100,000 to equally fund these two StrongStart BC Programs. This includes $20,000 in start-up costs, including renovations and the purchase of new equipment and learning materials and $30,000 to fund this year's operating costs, including staff, professional development, supplies and healthy snacks for each program.
Since 2001, the Province has invested $1.4 billion in literacy and literacy-related initiatives, such as StrongStart BC early learning programs, almost $18 million to operate the kindergarten-readiness program Ready, Set, Learn and $2.7 million for the LEAP BC resources that encourages literacy, physical activity and healthy eating in preschool-aged children.
Government has committed $280 million over three years to implement full day kindergarten for all five-year-olds in B.C. Full day kindergarten will be available for 50 per cent of kindergarten students in 2010 and for every five-year-old starting school in 2011.
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Media Contact:
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Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Education 250 356-5963 |
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