What can one extra hour of play-based learning activities do for children in kindergarten to grade two?
That’s what experts will be studying as 17 schools in the province embark on a three-year research project to measure the impact of this extra time.
A report will be released after the 2020-2021 school year after independent experts study the results.
Education and early childhood development minister Brian Kenny says this means these grades have the same hours of class time as students in other grades.
Glen Falls principal Colleen Sullivan, one of the schools taking part, says an extra hour is significant.
“It really is going to be a huge impact for our students,” says principal Sullivan.
“One of the great things about the extension is there are no added curriculum outcomes. So we’re teaching the same curriculum but we have the extra time to be able to do that.”
These are the schools taking part:
- McAdam Avenue School (Fredericton)
- Meduxnekeag Consolidated School (Woodstock)
- Chipman Elementary School (Chipman)
- Glen Falls School (Saint John)
- St. John the Baptist/King Edward School (Saint John)
- St. George Elementary School (St. George)
- Shediac Cape School (Shediac Cape)
- Riverside Consolidated School (Riverside-Albert)
- King Street Elementary School (Miramichi)
- Napan Elementary School (Napan)
- École L’Étincelle (Sainte-Marie-Saint-Raphaël)
- École L’Escale des Jeunes (Bas-Caraquet)
- École Mgr-Matthieu-Mazerolle (Rivière-Verte)
- École Régionale-de-Saint-André (Saint-André)
- École Mgr-Marcel-François-Richard (Saint-Louis de Kent)
- École Les Éclaireurs (Fredericton)
- École Soleil Levant (Richibucto)
