Avianna is seen smiling as she is all-hands-in with arts and crafts during an Early Learning Program held at St. Patrick's School for children aged 3-5. By licensing the program the Catholic school division is able to offer childcare programming at a significantly reduced rate for families.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Starting next school year, families within the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education will be able to send their young children to early learning programs at six elementary schools at a significantly reduced cost.
During the 2025-26 school year parents and guardians who enrol their children, aged 3-5, in early learning programs will be able to take advantage of an automatic cost dedication through a provincial grant, as well as have an opportunity to qualify for an additional subsidy by licensing the childcare programs.
Currently families pay $365 per month to enrol one student in the Early Learning Program from Monday to Friday.
Next year families who enrol their child five days a week in Early Learning Preschool, an extension of the current Early Learning Program, will receive a $75 per month automatic dedication through the province’s Affordability Grant.
As well, families with an annual household income of less than $180,000 can also apply for an additional subsidy of $125 per month through the federal-provincial childcare agreement. Families that qualify for the full childcare subsidy will see a reduction of $200 per month to enrol in the division’s ELP program, dropping the monthly cost to $165.
MHCBE also offers a three-day-per-week ELP program that runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The current cost for families is $220 per month per child. Next year families who qualify for the childcare subsidy will only pay $20 per month.
“By licensing, we’re just allowing our families to access subsidies, which makes it more affordable, ” explains Hugh Lehr, associate superintendent. “We want our kids in our schools as early and often as possible, and if this helps do that, that’s a win-win.”
The school board was recently awarded a provincial licence for childcare and early learning within its six elementary school facilities that already offer ELP. Lehr says MHCBE exceeded most of the licence requirements due the number of amenities available in each school.
“It’s not a big change to licence, because we already have licences. All of our school’s programs are licensed. So really we’re just adding to our existing licensed programs so the impact gap is not significant, but the impact to our families is,” says Lehr.
The division says some of the benefits of attending preschools within an elementary school include the development of a school routine and the opportunity to build relationships with peers, teachers and staff at the school.
Children have access to the school’s facilities, including its playground, gymnasium, library and school resources, and are able to participate in special events throughout the year.
“A big priority for our division is to have students attend their local school so they can go play in the playground with their friends,” says Lehr. “We don’t want people shopping back and forth and moving. “We want you into the school to learn the routines, to get to know the staff, to get to know how school is, to access our facilities, all those wonderful things that we want to offer to these young kids and families.”
The faith-based learning environment in the ELP also promotes teachings that simulate classroom settings.
“These are seen as another classroom within our school, and we permeate faith, we pray throughout the day. We teach kids that Jesus loves them, and they get to attend the ceremonies, the celebrations and mass. So it really seems like another younger class within the school.”
Kids must be three years old and potty trained before the first day of school to attend ELP, which runs half the day. Once a child is five years old they can attend both their ELP and kindergarten for a full day of learning.
Support for students who qualify for Program Unit Funding will continue in ELP for students who qualify based on an assessment.
Registration for 2025-26 ELP will be first come, first served, and will open online Feb. 3 on the division’s website under the ‘registration’ tab. Families that do not currently have a student enrolled in MHCBE will have to create a new account with the school.
