Bright Beginnings and Health Early Years in the Townships!
Recent research tells us that unfortunately our Englishspeaking youngsters are starting school less prepared than their Francophone peers. English-speaking five-year olds do poorly in at least 2 of the developmental benchmarks in Kindergarten compared with their French counterparts. As one can imagine, this is likely due to a long list of reasons. The research also shows that English speaking parents tended to be lower on the socio-economic scale, under educated and under employed. For a clear picture and more information on these statistics; https://chssn.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/11/0-to-5-profilequebec.pdf.
To help curb this challenge, Townshippers’ Association has been developing a Bright Beginnings program since the spring of 2019. The Bright Beginnings program is designed with the aim of mobilizing partners to enhance the well-being and educational success of English-speaking children and youth in Quebec. Funding for this program is provided by the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation and the project is managed by our long-time partners at the CHSSN.
The CHSSN (Community, Health and Social Services Network) also funds Townshippers with a grant originating from Public Health Agency Canada called HEY (Healthy Early Years) to run programs and projects for this demographic and their parents. Through this exciting new programs we have facilitated parenting courses; Parent Talk Workshop with Sandra Seasons, organized a Red Cross first aid for parents, partnered and supported other organizations to create resources and to host and hold events all geared at addressing the issues that plague English Speaking children 0-5 years and their families.
Our latest project was to assemble school readiness kits. In December 2019, we started by talking to the experts- teachers! It was important to understand what teachers see from 5 years old in September, where the gaps are. Several of the teachers consulted, remarked that many children did not know how to play, were not able to interact with others successfully, or perform independent acts such as opening their own snack. Together we brainstormed a list of resources that could be included in a readiness kit what would help children become familiar with school materials before they enter school. We also wanted to include a how to/what to expect for parents as their children transition from home or daycare to school.
These “I am Ready for School” bags were filled with to the brim goodies for children and parents alike to spend the summer investigating and getting to know the kindergarten materials. The reusable bags included crayons, scissors, chalk, playdough, glue, a white board and markers, primary pencils, erasers, line tracing workbooks, storybooks, information on sleep and nutrition, some healthy lunch tips, a list of activities and suggestions on how to play with your child and many resources from community partners. With the help of these partners; 25 bags were delivered to Waterloo Elementary through Cindy Elston, ETSB school transition agent, 15 bags were delivered to Butler Elementary through Holly Bailey, CLC coordinator, 15 bags were delivered to Farnham Elementary through Krista Steiche, ESTB school transition agent, 20 bags were delivered to the CPE in Knowlton and 12 bags to the Sutton CPE through
Alexandra Roy, the CPE Director.
Local vendors such as Toro graphics, Eureka and Brome Lake Books added their professional touches to the project. A local author, Ms. Heather even added some educational pages to accompany her storybook on sleep. We hope that this helps these families get off to a smooth educational experience. Thank you to all who participated in making this project such a success!
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