The Ministry of Education has provided funding to upgrade pre-kindergarten classrooms province-wide, affecting a number of schools in the Battlefords area.
The Lawrence and McKitrick schools of the Living Sky School Division, Notre Dame and Holy Family of the Light of Christ School Division and Pierceland, Lakeview, Jubilee, J.H. Moore and Turtleford of the Northwest School Division all received funding.
Funding has gone to renovating or relocating classrooms to enhance safety, increase children's independence, and redesign classrooms according to new thinking about prekindergarten education. Prekindergarten is for three- to four-year-olds before they enter school.
"The ministry, I think is doing a great job in the sense of realizing the importance of early-childhood learning, and by them recognizing the need for, for example, these two prekindergarten classrooms, that helps our students in those areas," explained Dwayne Hauk, the director of the Northwest School Division.
Both the Living Sky and the Light of Christ school divisions also expressed their support for the program, which provides $788,000 province-wide to upgrade prekindergarten classrooms in 43 schools in 22 communities across 19 school divisions. The funding was provided after school divisions provided upgrade proposals to the ministry in early 2007.
"I'm pleased to be part of a project that enhances the quality of prekindergarten classrooms," explained Donna Harpauer, the provincial education minister.
"Providing high-quality learning opportunities is a priority for the government of Saskatchewan and children entering prekindergarten should have classrooms that are comfortable and appropriate for their needs."
