New Richmond StrongStart BC Centres to Help Local Children

by John Yap, MLA Richmond-Steveston
(Steveston, BC Canada)

Two new StrongStart BC early learning centres in School District 38 will open this fall at Grauer and Woodward elementary schools, MLAs Olga Ilich, Linda Reid and John Yap announced today, two of 99 StrongStart BC centres that have been announced across the Province.

"StrongStart BC centres are excellent resources for parents and caregivers who wish to give their pre-school age children the opportunity to become comfortable in a school setting," said Ilich, MLA for Richmond Centre.

"These new centres are another example of our government fulfilling its election platform and throne speech commitment to use underutilized school spaces to deliver early learning services," said Reid, MLA for Richmond East.

"I'm glad to see Grauer Elementary and Woodward Elementary will now be able to offer school-based, high quality early learning programs for our preschoolers," said Yap, MLA for Richmond-Steveston. "By investing in this initiative, we are investing in our children's educational and future success."

StrongStart BC is a free drop-in early learning program for preschool-aged children accompanied by a parent or caregiver. A qualified early childhood educator leads activities, including stories, music, and arts, to help children grow linguistically, emotionally and socially, and become comfortable in a school-like setting.

All of B.C.'s 60 school districts have been offered the opportunity to participate in the StrongStart BC program. The Province has committed $38 million to fulfil a 2008 throne speech commitment to expand the StrongStart BC program. StrongStart BC centres also help fulfil government's election platform and throne speech commitments to use underutilized school district space as centres to deliver early-learning services. Today's announcement will bring the total number of StrongStart BC centres to 200 across the province.


The Richmond school district will receive $50,000 for each new StrongStart BC centre. This includes $20,000 to prepare the in-school space, including renovations and the purchase of new equipment and learning materials and up to $30,000 to fund this year's operating costs, including staff, professional development, supplies and healthy snacks. Continuing centres receive a $30,000 operating grant each year.School District 38 now has 3 StrongStart BC centres.

The StrongStart BC centres are helping the Province reach its goal of making B.C. the best-educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent. In addition, the Province has created the Early Childhood Learning Agency, which is currently conducting a feasibility study on offering all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds and optional all-day preschool for children aged three and four by 2012.