\Parenthése |

La voix des parents de Colombie-Britannique

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Bridging the Gap trom
Preschool to Kindergarten...

The children march hana-in-
a hand in pairs along the cor-

ridors of the Big School. Some
heed the call for silence and exchange
excited glances with their neighbours
as they near their final destination...the
gymnasium! The little boy at the front of
the line suddenly shrieks with joy; he just
spotted his big sister and throws himself
at her; after all, they haven't seen each
other since lunchtime, a few hours ago!
The teacher in charge politely restores
order and the children file into the gym,
greeting the school director, who wel-
comes them at the door. Now every-
one is seated and ready to watch the
show that’s about to begin!

This scene takes place in the ten
CSF schools lucky enough to house a
school-based preschool for children
ages 3 to 5 years. Parent volunteers
manage these services and early
learning educators provide
ship. These services make a significant
contribution to the vitality of the school
communities. This is why the FPFCB and
the CSF have combined their efforts fo
provide pedagogical support for these
programs. Since last fall, both organiza-
tions have been cooperating fully in a
project nicknamed le Pont (the Bridge).
The image and symbolism of the bridge
coincide with the primary goal of this
project: to ensure the children’s suc-
cessful transition from preschool! to pri-
mary school, i.e. as they begin kinder-
garten.

leader-

The first phase of the project, initi-
ated in late November, will end soon.
It consists of our visits to the ten CSF

schools that have school-based pre-
schools. This four has helped us to bet-
ter understand the context of each
school and the issues that affect each
one.

For each of these visits, we have ar-
ranged meetings between the kinder-
garten and preschool! teachers. The
purpose of these meetings is fo pro-
mote cooperation between the two
levels. Indeed, if all of the instructors
work together, the children will benefit
from a continuity that can only help to
ease their integration into kindergarten.
To date, the relatively formal aspect of
these meetings has created ideal op-
portunities for discussion. For some, this
is the first opportunity to meet and, for
others, it is an ideal time fo share with
us some successful practices and fell
us about cooperative projects that are
already under way.

Finally, using the information gath-
ered during our visits, we will be able

By Shannie Harvey, early learning
development officer, FPFCB

to work on the second phase of our
project. This will involve exploring the
feasibility of providing professional de-
velopment activities for the preschool
educators. We are currently in the
process of identifying possible themes
and common needs. One thing is sure,
as we observed, “the educators are
unanimous regarding the urgent need
for access to French-language profes-
sional training.”

We believe that, to date, this
bridge project is extremely significant
and holds a great deal of promise. It
acknowledges the important role that
our school-based preschools play. The
resources and actions provided by the
CSF and the FPFCB clearly demonstrate
their commitment fo the early learning
sector.

This project is an important step for-
ward that will greatly benefit our young
children.