We are pleased to announce that, as of September 2025, Junior Kindergarten at SJS will be a full-day program. We are delighted to be enhancing learning opportunities, and responding to the needs of parents, by extending our half-day JK program to full-day.
Full-day Junior Kindergarten will provide more time for educational programming and support social and emotional development. Valerie Little, Junior School Principal says, “The extended instructional time will allow for a deeper exploration into students’ Units of Inquiry and provide more repetition and reinforcement of key skills, to help children retain new information better. In addition, more engagement with peers will foster social skills such as sharing, cooperation and conflict resolution.”
A longer day will provide a more consistent routine, which can be comforting for young children and help them develop better time management and adaptability skills. We look forward to more time for play-based learning activities, which are essential for young learners’ cognitive, social and emotional development.
To support more learning opportunities, we are creating a multi-sensory play area in the courtyard. This varied-surface walk, play kitchen and musical instruments are specifically designed to provide more gross motor development for our students. The play space is one more way we are providing a balanced schedule including physical activity, rest, free play and structured learning.
SJS launched the JK program in 2013 with inaugural teachers Jess Bacci and Aman Takhar ‘04. They have evolved the program over the years and are now looking forward to re-designing a fulsome curriculum that aligns with their early learner pedagogy. Jess Bacci says, “I am excited to see the JK program continue to evolve and grow after all these years. We are so passionate about early learning, emergent curriculum and the importance of play. Having longer periods of uninterrupted play will allow children the time to explore their curiosity and discover new wonderings, and it will give us (as the educators) time to listen, notice, plan and reflect so that we can invite creativity and discovery and provoke critical thinking and problem solving.”
I am excited to see the JK program continue to evolve and grow after all these years. We are so passionate about early learning, emergent curriculum and the importance of play.
Please join us in spreading the word to the greater Vancouver community. Admissions is now accepting applications for the September 2025 full-day JK program. If you have any questions, please contact Ann Halupka, Director of Enrolment Management, at ahalupka@sjs.ca.
