A new pre-school was opened today and it's called "Stepping Stones Pre-School." It is actually a model pre-school which will serve as a real life three dimensional example of excellence in early childhood education. The idea for the model pre-school came from 2004's Education Summit where early childhood education was seen as a priority. That says Diane Maheia from the Ministry of Education is why Stepping Stones was opened.
Diane Maheia,
"Stepping Stones Pre-School is a model preschool, designed to be a place where best teaching practices can be observed by teachers and parents alike where ideas and resources can blossom. Four of our sixth forms now offer teaching education programs. We need to offer these teachers in training as many avenues as possible for observation and exploration in this field; Stepping Stones can help with this. This preschool is beautiful, it is bright is child centered and we hope it can be more. We want it to be a model in more than academic ways, we want it to be a model in community and parental involvement."
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"The investments we make in these young children in those early childhood years, in those critical formative years, are really the best investments we can make in our education system. Obviously the returns will not be seen for some years to come. The opportunity for these children to develop their own life skills at this early stage, for them to develop their own values, the right attitudes towards learning I think is very very critical."
Stepping Stones is located at the Ministry's Preschool Unit on Chetumal Street.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
