Winnipeg School Division nixing all-day kindergarten next year

Manitoba's largest school division will no longer have any full-day kindergartennext year.

The Winnipeg School Division is ending a nearly eight-year-long pilot program that brought full-day kindergarten to 11 of its schools.

Students currently enrolled in full-day kindergarten for the 2021-22 school year won't be affected, a news release from the division says.

Half-day kindergarten is offered at all the division's schools, either in the morning or afternoon, for 2hours. Full-day kindergarten is three hours in the morning, with an hour lunch break, followed by 2 hours in the afternoon.

The pilot started in 2013 with four schools andlater expanded to 11, with the intention of studying whether students would benefit from a longer school day. The study used report card data, provincial English and math skills evaluations, school attendance dataand parent surveys, among other tools, to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

Early in the study, results suggestedfull-day kindergarten students were benefiting from more time in the classroom.Specifically, they were more prepared for a full day in school and were more engaged in the classroom, said Celia Caetano-Gomes, the division's superintendent of education.

However, before the end of Grade 2, the half-day kindergarten students had achieved the early gains offull-day kindergarten students, and there were no impacts on academic performancein later yearsand no sustained growth improvements, she said.

"There was a benefit at the beginning of Grade 1 that the students were showing higher engagement, more readiness to be learners in schools,"Caetano-Gomes said in an interview with CBC.

"But it was not sustained over time, and it did not have the benefit on students learning and academic performance that was expected."

The study was focused on academic performanceand didn't explore the potential social or economic benefits,Caetano-Gomes said.

For parents who might be concerned about child care if full-day kindergarten is no longer an option, she said the division still offers a half-day nursery school program they can enrol their child in.

Schools in the Winnipeg School Division offering full-day kindergarten until June 2022 include John M. King, Norquay, Strathcona, Wellington, Harrow, Fort Rouge, Earl Grey, Mulvey, Shaughnessy Park, Lord Selkirk and William Whyte.

Winnipeg School Division ending all-day kindergarten next year

3 years ago

Duration 1:48

Manitoba's largest school division will no longer offer full-day kindergarten next year in select schools. The Winnipeg School Division is ending a nearly eight-year-long pilot program that looked at whether kids could benefit from a full-day of kindergarten as opposed to a half day.