K4 for English schools

4-year olds to get school time in Western Quebec School Board

The Western Quebec School Board (WQSB) announced the addition of five new full-time four-year-old kindergarten (K4) classes in the region, a couple of weeks ago, including two in the Aylmer sector.

According to a press release issued on February 13, the new classes granted by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEES) will bring the WQSB’s total number of full-time 4K classes in the region to 15 by the start of the 2020-21 school year.

Currently the WQSB offers the program in ten schools across the region, including Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary in Shawville, Onslow Elementary in Quyon and Buckingham Elementary in Gatineau.

Among the five new programs the WQSB will boast, two will be offered at Lord Aylmer Elementary School and Eardley Elementary School respectively.

Free of charge, each class will have a maximum capacity of 17 students and registrations will be taken on a first-come first-served basis, according to WQSB Communications Director François Raymond.

“There will be a waiting list,” he said, “but as soon as we have 17 kids and no one cancels, those 17 students will be what we have. Our local schools are already quite heavily loaded. We can’t open up an infinite amount of space and we don’t have an unlimited amount of money. It goes with the financing that we get from the [MEES].”

Raymond explained that the new classes came from the MEES’s mission to expand its number of pre-kindergarten programs throughout the province.

He added that the specific schools where the new programs will be introduced were selected according to each area’s socioeconomic grade, which is designated according to a variety of factors, including average salary according to postal code and the level of education of children’s mothers.

All in all, the program’s purpose is to benefit child-development and to prepare them for the school board’s Preschool Education Program for five-year-olds.

In line with the provincial Meeting Early Childhood Needs daycare program, the classes are meant to provide all children with equal opportunities, for well-rounded development, for them to become confident in their skills and to enjoy learning, Raymond said.

Additional information including registration timetables, procedures and eligibility criteria will be forthcoming.