The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon children entering kindergarten possess above-average language and cognitive development skills compared to the rest of the province, a new survey suggests. But the 2002-03 school readiness report from the Manitoba government also suggests a higher percentage of them have problems in other areas. Given the comparatively small sampling size available in Flin Flon and the fact that the results represent a single year, Assistant Superintendent Dean Grove said he's not ready to draw conclusions from the data. With a small sample of students, changes in just a few children can have a real impact on the survey results, he said. The report notes that for the 2002-03 school year, 72.6 per cent of Flin Flon children entering school scored "very high" or "high" in the area of language and cognitive development, compared to the rest of the province. Another 13.1 per cent scored "average," and 14.3 per cent scored "low" or "very low." However, in the other four areas of the survey ? physical health and well-being, communication skills and general knowledge, social competence and emotional maturity ? a higher proportion of Flin Flon students scored "very low." In physical health and well-being, 14.3 per cent of students scored "very low," 27.4 per cent "low," 24.4 per cent "average," 19 per cent "high," and 16.7 per cent "very high." In communication skills and general knowledge, 19 per cent scored "very low," 21.4 per cent "low," 19.1 per cent "average," 16.7 per cent "high," and 23.8 per cent "very high." In social competence, 15.5 per cent scored "very low," 16.7 per cent "low," 27.4 per cent "average," 22.6 per cent "high" and 17.8 per cent "very high." In emotional maturity, 15.9 per cent scored "very low," 7.3 per cent "low," 26.8 per cent "average," 20.7 per cent "high" and 29.3 per cent "very high." Assistant Superintendent Grove said the survey results from 2003-04, which have yet to be made public, show improvements in some areas. He said the school division will continue to work with early childhood educators and health professionals to ensure programs are in place to help parents prepare their children for school. The ongoing survey, known as the Early Development Instrument, is conducted annually in kindergarten classrooms across Manitoba.
