Halifax-area schools get creative to accommodate influx of pre-primary students

The final phase of Nova Scotia's pre-primary expansion is set to roll out in a matter of weeks, and some schools in the Halifax area are using some new techniques to cope with the big bump in student numbers.

Forty-eight schools in the province will add a pre-primary program in this phase of the rollout, which began in 2017. This phase will complete the coverage across the province, meaning every elementary school in the province should have a corresponding program.

"We're really excited about that," said Doug Hadley, a spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. "We've been preparing over the last several months to get the programs ready to welcome students back when students return for all grades."

Pre-primary is a free and optional program available to families with children who are four years old. The program is play-based and aims to prepare the children to enter Grade Primary.

The Halifax Regional Centre for Education has 31 of the 48 schools where the program will be rolled out this year. The rollout is creating pressures on the schools to find enough space for all students, and HRCE is using three different solutions to cope: off-site locations, portables and "modular" classrooms.

Variety of solutions

The off-site solution is being used at schools like Park West and Grosvenor-Wentworth Park Elementary. Those schools in the Clayton Park West area have long suffered from crowding issues, so their pre-primary programs will take place jointly at a commercial space on Kearney Lake Road.

Kingswood Elementary's program will also be offered in a space close to, but not directly on, school grounds.

HRCE is being squeezed by growing enrolment in the P-12 grades. Enrolment has risen by close to 4,000 students in the last three years, and it's expected to continue to rise. Pre-primary has also added thousands more students, with 2,300 registered so far for the upcoming school year.

Ten portable classrooms are being brought in for various HRCE schools. The pre-primary classes will not be offered in the portables because there are requirements for the smallest children to have the fastest access to washrooms and running water.

Two schools will get "modular" classrooms: Duc d'Anville Elementary in Clayton Park and Beechville Lakeside Timberlea Jr. Elementary. Hadley describes the modular classrooms as a bridge between a bricks-and-mortar building and a portable. They are commonly used in other parts of Canada and the United States.

"If enrolments changed over time, we could either add to them or we could remove them when they're no longer needed, so it's somewhat of a combination," Hadley said.

"It's really a first for us here in Halifax to go this route, but with them being structured the way they are, they can be constructed quite quickly and then removed if need be."

Paul Wozney, the president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, said pre-primary is an important piece of alleviating child poverty for families. However, he believes the implementation of the program was too quick and has had some negative effects because existing elementary school classes have been displaced to other spaces in some cases.

"They have to go somewhere else in the building, and very often that somewhere else is the library, the gym, the stage in the gym, the music room, the art room," Wozney said.

"It's really limited the operational functionality of buildings. It has deeply limited the curriculum that can be offered, so schools that used to have very rich performing arts and music programs, because their spaces have been taken up to deliver those classes, [they] really no longer have spaces designed to deliver those programs."

Christine McLean, an assistant professor in Mount Saint Vincent University's department of child and youth studies, agrees the effect on schools has forced teachers and students to make some "major adjustments," and she believes it will likely take a few years before classrooms and outdoor spaces can be arranged to fit the new needs.

However, she said children will ultimately benefit from a program that's available to all families.

"If the children are learning socially and emotionally, they're also learning cognitively as well, and also the physical advantages of just running around and playing with your buddies. There's all kinds of advantages to programs prior to school entry," she said.

McLean said locating the programs in schools can be helpful to families.

"It's an infrastructure that's available to all communities, so it makes it more accessible for parents and for children," she said.

COVID-19 concerns

Hadley said measures are in place to deal with the influx of pre-primary students amid COVID-19.

"Parents can rest assured that we will implement a plan based on the public health guidelines, and if there's a need to change we will most certainly do so," he said.

He also pointed to $40 million the province has earmarked to address COVID issues, such as increased cleaning of pre-primary classrooms to ensure a safe opening.

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