Preschool & Early Years Schools

Supporting young children's social, emotional, cognitive and physical development and learning is a complex, and exciting journey. Adults who teach young children have an opportunity to design the environment for children to explore, wonder, investigate, discover and construct their own thinking.

The early years when children are developing at a rapid rate, are the optimum time for teachers to provide experiences that will build a foundation for lifelong learning. 

Every Child

• Is a unique learner;
• Is a social being who learns through the development of relationships with peers and adults;
• Is entitled to learning environments that support optimal development of the whole child;
• Is entitled to opportunities to learn through active exploration;
• Learns through child-initiated, child-directed, teacher supported play.

Early School Years Program
The Early School Years Program is offered in six Inner City schools (Fort Rouge, Mulvey, William Whyte, Pinkham, Dufferin, and Niji Mahkwa), to provide an enriched educational environment for children in nursery and kindergarten. The primary focus is on language development and supporting parents in their involvement in the educational process of their children.

Early Years Education Initiative

On March 14, 2017, the Province of Manitoba announced a new early years education initiative to support student success in literacy and numeracy. The initiative replaced the previous Provincial government’s Kindergarten to Grade 3 cap of 20 students per classroom. 

Winnipeg School Division views this as positive and progressive support for early years education. This initiative gives us the ability to be responsive to the division’s priorities for early education while honoring experiential learning, cooperation and social/emotional needs of children. This support allows children to achieve a higher academic success in literacy, numeracy and connections to other subjects.

This announcement is also very timely with the release of the new early years English Language Arts and Time for Learning, Time for Joy curriculum.

The funding grant for this initiative is consistent with past investment from the Province. Currently, Winnipeg School Division administration is working with early years schools to develop a plan to most effectively use this funding in our ongoing effort to establish a solid foundation for students to build upon.