Fernie and Elkford Kindergartens to go full time – Sparwood and Jaffray have to wait until 2011
January 31, 2010
The Fernie Free Press
By Angela Treharne

Two of the five elementary schools in the Elk Valley will be making the transition to all-day kindergarten classes this fall…

The change is possible because School District 5 received a funding commitment from Victoria to provide all-day kindergarten for up to 200 students in the district’s 11 elementary schools this fall, which would cover about 60 per cent of the kindergarten students in the district….

Isabella Dicken school currently has 22 full day kindergarten students whose parents pay for the extra class. Principal Dawn Voysey said the class was requested by the parents and was so popular some parents who wanted it could not get a place this year….

“I think parents see full-day kindergarten as a good thing,” she says. “We’ll be working hard to minimize any hiccups that might arise as we move forward.”