EDUCATION REPORTER
As public schools open registration for the new full-day kindergarten program, some private schools are bracing for the change.
Many private schools already offer longer-day kindergarten options, but at heftier prices than what the province has promised to offer at every public school by 2015.
"It's either going to hurt us or help us," said Mark Wu, vice-principal of Sommerville Manor, a private school in Mississauga. "It'll help us if the government can't roll this out smoothly, and that's kind of what I'm banking on. This is a massive rollout."
Principals and vice-principals of private schools in the GTA said that the publicity surrounding Ontario's full-day kindergarten program has raised awareness of the benefits of longer school days for younger students, and increased interest from parents.
Independent schools that don't already offer extended-day programs are embracing the trend: A private school in Oakville, St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School, announced last week that it would be providing full-day learning for its junior and senior kindergarten students.
Sally Dobie, a director at St. Mildred's-Lightbourn, said the decision was the result of heightened attention to the full-day model and the number of parents who expressed interest. "We're trying to be responsive to the needs of parents and students," she said.
The province plans to roll out the program over five years, and competition for spots at the 101 Toronto schools that will offer the program this fall is expected to be fierce.
Schools in the poorest neighbourhoods were given priority and more affluent families may have to look outside the public system for full-day kindergarten options.
Hudson College, a private day school located near St. Clair Avenue West and Dufferin Street, has been offering all-day kindergarten since it opened its doors seven years ago. Jeff Bavington, the school's vice-principal, said he expected more and more private schools to begin offering a full-day program because the move in the public boards has heightened awareness of its benefits.
"What you can do with children at that age in a full-day program, I think, is extraordinary, and I think the long-term benefits of that really outweigh anything you could do [in a]half-day," he said.
The province's full-day program is based on a model developed by early childhood learning expert Charles Pascal. It offers full-day kindergarten classes, as well as before- and after-school care that will be provided at a small fee, estimated at $15 to $25 a day.
The program will begin this fall with slightly fewer than 600 schools, or 35,000 students, across the province, at a cost of about $200-million.