StrongStart is off and running in the Sooke school district.

The provincial government's early-learning program had its official opening yesterday…. and is due to be in 80 schools across B.C. by the end of the year. The Greater Victoria, Saanich and Gulf Islands districts also have StrongStart schools in place.

StrongStart B.C. is a free, drop-in early learning program for preschool-aged children accompanied by a parent or caregiver. Qualified early childhood educators lead learning activities…. The centres are open at least three hours a day and five days a week….

"We have a number of activities going on at all times," Melanson said, reeling off tried-and-true favourites like building with blocks, finger-painting and dancing. There is also time to get together in groups, she said.

"With every program where children are involved, we're looking at having them sit down with each other, sharing toys, learning to be friends."

Most children are three or four years of age, but the program has a lot of flexibility, said Melanson, an early-childhood educator….

Children and Family Development Minister Tom Christensen said …. "I think we recognize very clearly that early learning begins right at the beginning, and those zero-to-six years are very critical to a child's development. StrongStart centres are a way of using space that is vacant in elementary schools across the province today, to be providing early-learning opportunities and better ensuring that our children are ready for kindergarten, and that they have a better opportunity to succeed once they are in elementary school.

"It's not a child-care setting, it's not a preschool setting, it is an interactive opportunity for parents and children. A critical part of it is the learning that parents are able to take in, in terms of what they can take away from a StrongStart centre and continue to do at home to support their child's early development."

He said parental involvement is a key part of the program, while in the case of the Ruth King centre the Capital Families Association is also playing an important role.

John Horgan, NDP MLA for Malahat-Juan de Fuca, said the StrongStart program is something positive for his constituents but it does not address all of the issues. "There's a lot of good to be said about it, but it is a stop-gap, almost Band-Aid solution to what is a looming child-care crisis in B.C."

Horgan said the province needs to have more early-childhood educators being trained to meet the needs of all parents.