Kindergarten registration underway
By Chris Simon

Schools are already preparing for September's new crop of Kindergarten students.

On Monday, several local Simcoe County District Public Schools began registering children for 2008- 2009 junior and senior Kindergarten classes. The schools are taking registrations in an effort to reduce the stress and backlog of paperwork during the first few days of classes in September, says Goodfellow principal David Brownlee.

"We're encouraging parents to do this sooner, rather than later, because it allows for all of the planning that takes place," he said. "The make up of the classes (and) the staffing (are affected). It also lets us facilitate how many children we're going to have in Junior Kindergarten, in terms of how many rooms we need to have. The more we can do now, the better it is for September; it avoids us having to make shuffles of students and teachers in the first few weeks."

To register at a school, children must be four years old by Dec. 31. Proof of age - such as a Canadian birth certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, a passport, Permanent Resident Card/Record of Landing, or Statement of Live Birth - must be submitted to a school before September.

The child's immunization record will also be required.

"For all Simcoe County publicly funded schools, Kindergarten registration began Feb. 11," he said. "Parents need to bring records during school hours. They need to bring proof of residency that they're in our catchment area as well."

In June, Goodfellow will host a unique Kindergarten information night for its new students, which will offer parents tips for class preparation. Everything from properly packing a lunch to appropriate reading material will be discussed, and parents will be supplied with a preparation kit, said Brownlee.

Several community organizations will also set up displays, to provide child care and other information for parents.

"That evening, we will be inviting all of the parents, as well as their JK student, to come to the school to participate in a number of activities," he said. "We'll be going over our base information of what Goodfellow's policies and procedures are, what a typical day in Kindergarten looks like and providing some 'how to's' for parents. They'll learn things (like) how to use Play-Doh to actively encourage their child's learning over the summer and letter and number recognition."

The program, called Welcome to Kindergarten, is sponsored by the Learning Partnership, a non-profit group that promotes public education. Goodfellow is the only school in Innisfil that participates in the program, said Brownlee.

Preparing children for Kindergarten before starting class gives them the best possible chance to succeed in school, he said.

"Parents will leave our evening with a bag of tools for their children," said Brownlee.

"It's (about) how to support our parents to support their children, to give us the best start forward. If children can come to us with that first step forward, they're going to be that much more successful in picking up basic reading, writing and math that they need to have."

For more information on registration, visit www.scdsb.on.ca or call the board's property and planning department at 734-6363 ext. 11297.