For more than half of her 21 years as a teacher Karen Bernath has been teaching Kindergarten to Central Okanagan students.

Now at Bankhead Elementary, Bernath says there will be some challenges as the Central Okanagan school district—and the rest of the province—move to the implementation of full-day Kindergarten over the next two years.

But Bernath feels the move to full day Kindergarten will be fine “as long as the program remains play-based and the curriculum doesn’t change,” she said.

“It provides an opportunity for teachers to encourage the joy of learning rather than rushing through the curriculum in half a day.”

At the school board meeting on Wednesday, the trustees passed a motion that will see over 800 kids in the Central Okanagan have the chance to register for full-day Kindergarten this September.

Under the proposal that is moving forward, the district was awarded 830 seats for the first year of full day Kindergarten. Only nine area elementary schools will not have the option for full day Kindergarten until 2011….

Bernath says she thinks kids are ready.

“The challenge is children’s stamina,” she admitted. “But with both parents working in a lot of families, most children are out of their home for a full day so having full-day Kindergarten allows them to stay in one full day program all day,” rather than bouncing from school to daycare, she said….