Bram’s daughter was struggling to learn how to read. He worked with her at home, along with his wife, but nothing they did seemed to make a difference. In Grade 1, she was enrolled in Strong Start’s Letters, Sounds and Words program, which helped open the lid to her learning. This is their story.
Grace participated in and benefited from the 2016 Get Ready for School program where she gained some of the fundamental skills she would need to be successful in school. This summer, we followed up with her mother Ashley Pederson to see how school is going for Grace so far.
As a top-quality builder, with properties in Brantford, Guelph, London and Waterloo Region, Sifton Properties invests where their staff and clients live, work and raise families. With a specific focus on education and helping the next generation prepare for a successful future, our Letters, Sounds and Words program was a perfect fit with their neighbourly philosophy. Honouring Brier Park Public School in Brantford, which serves their tenants in the Brier Park community, was a wonderful way to support their local residents.
Good corporate citizens, and environmental leaders, are great descriptors for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. With a Tim Horton’s onsite to serve employees, staff are encouraged to put the lids of their cups in a separate slot in the recycling container. In honour of their teams efforts to recycle, Toyota created the Lids4Kids program, where a donation is made to a children’s charity each quarter, in recognition of the lids collected.
Our Get Ready for School program helps children get comfortable in a learning environment. They practise routines. They make friends. They read stories. Randi St. Laurent shared her daughter’s experience in the program in this original testimonial. We followed up this summer to see how they are doing now.
Sean’s story was one of Strong Start’s first videos. He participated in our Letters, Sounds and Words program back in 2011. Over the 10-weeks, his skills, confidence and self-esteem grew. We followed up with his mother, Carolyn, recently who filled us in how school is going for Sean now. He stills dreams big and bright.
The Get Ready for School program was offered in 16 sites across Waterloo Region, and served a total of 318 children. A total of 90 children in the program did not speak English on a regular basis at home, with an additional children children who spoke English as well as a second language at home. The program was supported by 39 paid instructors, and 34 volunteers, who gave approximately 940 hours of volunteer time to the program.
Letters, Sounds and Words Program Summary Overall 94% of the children made considerable, excellent or outstanding gains. Enrolment 3,186 children were enrolled in the fall and spring rounds. The program is designed as a 10-week … Continued
Karen Mitchell, Principal at Sacred Heart C.E.S. in Paris shares how Strong Start’s Letters, Sounds and Words program helps build community in her school. “When I first think about Strong Start, I think about community helping community. It takes a village to raise a child and so in our school, what we try to do is identify our children who need more support and we get our community members in to help us with that closing the gap for our children.”
I am so impressed with the Get Ready for School program offered at Kinbridge Community Association in Cambridge. The staff, the curriculum, and the day-to-day activities have far exceeded my expectations! Zachary went into the program knowing the letter “Z” and is leaving with the ability to identify all of the letters. He can even read simple words.
