Playschool set for open house

Four-year-old Shelby bounces on the knee of Southridge Playschool teacher and director Lola Palik while waiting for her mom to pick her up. The school is holding an open house for pre-registration on March 6 from 2 to 8 p.m. for the fall term. Geoff Lee Meridian Source

 

The Southridge Playschool and Kindergym Society is holding an open house for parents to preregister their three to five-year-old kids for the fall term.

The event will take place on Monday, March 6, from 2 to 8 p.m. with teacher-director Lola Palik on hand to welcome all newcomers. 

“The big thing is we only have so many spots, so if people want to come in they have to register, otherwise if they call and say they are interested, I can’t keep a spot for them,” said Palik.

Parents can choose one two-hour morning or afternoon class Monday to Thursday or enrol their kids for a second day on Friday morning or afternoon with just 19 kids per class.

“We do free time, we have crafts, we do circle time where we talk about our weekly theme and we read a book to them. We have a little gym time where we play games. We have structure,” explained Palik.

She is also thrilled to announce they can offer field trips again, too.

“We had to cut them out because of COVID. So now once a month with my second-day-a-week kids we do a field trip. This week we are going to the dance studio,” she said.

The non-profit playschool will kick off its 43rd season in September with the goal of prepping kids to be socially ready for kindergarten.

Palik says early-age social and language skills were really lacking during COVID.

“I have a lot of kids who don’t speak English, so when they come in they get exposed to speaking English; they pick it up really fast,” she said.

“For other kids, it’s being socially able to play with other kids which is so important for starting school.”

Playschool has never been more affordable for parents since the introduction of a Canada-wide federal government affordability grant in January 2022.

The Canada-Alberta grants go directly to licensed operators and must be used to reduce parent fees.

It’s only $325 a year for two classes a week with a subsidy available to cover the cost of one class a week.

The grant has been a godsend for the playschool, which was in danger of closing during the pandemic when tuition was the only funding source before the grant program.

“Over the last few years with COVID, we’ve been down in numbers, but this year it’s been really amazing. We’re back to where we should be,” said Palik.

“Last year, we ran with 67 kids and this year we’re at 105.”

Shyla Williams, who is also a volunteer advocacy chair for Southridge said in a phone interview, the fees are a no-brainer for her and other parents on a budget.

“That was my big draw and the fact the teacher had so much experience. Once you meet her, she’s very nice and she does so well with children.”

Palik, or Mrs. P as the kids affectionately call her, has been teaching at Southridge for almost 30 years and loves every minute of it.

“It’s just seeing the development, seeing how they grow. That’s the biggest thing,” she said.

“They come in and it’s ‘I love you Mrs. P. You are it’.”

She is also seeing generational kids of parents that she once taught.

“So I pull out the book and I show kids their parents when they were kids,” said Palik, who also shares a bit of history about the playschool that is now the only one in town.

It’s still called Southridge Playschool because it was opened in 1980 by Southridge Church. Then in 1981, a group took it over as a non-profit society.

It moved to its current location at 6310-50 Ave. about 13 years ago.

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Geoff Lee
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