Update on Pre-Primary

Pre-primary classroom doors will soon open to hundreds of four-year-olds across the province.

Hiring is complete in the Tri-County School Board where six classrooms are set to open the week of Sept. 25. Parents will be contacted this week.

Fifty classrooms across the province in 43 different locations, will offer free pre-primary programming. This includes 20 pre-existing programs for four-year-olds, including eight programs that are part of the early years centres.

“Research shows the benefits pre-primary programming has for children,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Zach Churchill. “Providing every family with free, equal access to pre-primary levels the playing field for all children and gives them a head start on learning.”

School boards are in various stages of the hiring process. Recruitment will continue until all positions are filled. The department will continue to work with its partners to open all classrooms by the end of September.

Below are status updates for each school board location:

• Tri-County School Board – hiring process is complete
• Annapolis Valley Regional School Board – hiring process is complete with the exception of one position
• South Shore Regional School Board – hiring process is complete with the exception of one position
• Halifax Regional School Board – hiring process is complete with the exception of one position
• Chignecto-Central Regional School Board –interviewing for positions is ongoing
• Strait Regional School Board- hiring process is ongoing
• Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board – interviewing for early childhood educator positions is complete. Hiring process for the pre-primary manager position is ongoing
• Conseil scolaire acadien provincial - has transitioned the existing program in the early years centre to a pre-primary program.

School boards will contact pre-registered parents to confirm their registration once classroom staffing is complete.

This is the first phase of a four year roll out of free, pre-primary programming that will be available to every Nova Scotia family across the province by 2020.

For more information parents can visit www.ednet.ns.ca/pre-primary or their local school board site.