Come visit us:
RfSC will have a display a the TDSB Futures Conference, May 5, 2012 –  stop by and say hello!

RfSC will also be displaying at a west Toronto Community Agency Fair, May 23, 2012 at Kipling Collegiate

If you would like to see a Ready for School Connects program or Healthy Child Screening in action, please contact Rachel to arrange a visit at (416) 588-3755 x555

Job Opportunities!

East York East Toronto is looking for talented Program Leaders for the programs at Crescent Town, Secord, George Webster, Sprucecourt and Rose Avenue public schools. View the posting here.

RfSC Advisory Committee is looking for new members with a corporate, business and/or marketing background to help us through our strategic planning process. View the posting here.

New Funding Partner

RfSC wants to extend a big thank you to the McKesson Foundation for their generous support of the RfSC expansion.  We look forward to adding a few new schools and community partners to the Ready for School Connects family in 2013!

Dates to Remember

West End training will take place on Friday April 20, 2012 for staff and volunteers leading RfSC programs at Brookhaven, Danforth Gardens, Pauline and Carleton Village public schools.

Evaluation Facilitators training will take place on Monday April 23, 2012 at 5:30 pm at 1900 Davenport.

East End training will take place on Tuesday June 5 and Wednesday June 6, 2012 for staff and volunteers leading RfSC programs at Secord, George Webster, Crescent Town, Sprucecourt and Rose Avenue public schools.

RfSC is growing again! This year programs will be run in 9 schools across Toronto. A big welcome to the newest schools; Brookhaven, Danforth Gardens and Rose Avenue and our community partners; Macaulay Child Development Centre,  West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre and East York East Toronto Family Resources. Click here for a list of all schools, dates and registration information.

We are currently looking for new Advisory  Committe Members who can help lead us through strategic planning to move forward the expansion of RfSC. Please have a look at the posting and feel free to forward to your colleagues and networks.

Visit us on Facebook! This page is a way to stay connected after the programs end, look for RfSC friends, resources and school readiness tips.

Follow-up results

The results are in! Families from our 2011 programs are adusting well in school, children are happy and enjoying Junior Kindergarten.  Follow up results show that:

• Relationships initiated in RfSC programs are long lasting and important to newcomer parents – 81% still interact with other families from the program
• Children are more comfortable with the classroom routines and environment
• 60% of families still use their local library

For more information, check out the 2011 Follow Up Summary.

Important dates

Ready for School Connects training dates include:

• April 20, 2012 at 1900 Davenport for agency staff working in Brookhaven, Carleton Village, Danforth Gardens and Pauline programs.
• June 5 & 6, 2012 at 3079 Danforth for EYET staff working in Crescent Town, George Webster, Secord, Rose Avenue and Sprucecourt programs.

2011 Evaluation Report

The results are in…and we are in top form! Parents, staff, schools and community partners are very happy with the RfSC program, workshops, staff and overall experience.  The 2011 Evaluation Report is now available.  A couple of excerpts are included below:

‘In each of the areas of feeding self, dressing self, uses washroom independently, washes hands, sits for 10 minutes, tries new activities on own, tries new activities in a group, and separates from parent, there was statistical significance, which means that the changes were moving positively.’ 2011 Evaluation Report

‘my dream is that every family entering kindergarten in Ontario (whether or not they are newcomers) has the opportunity to participate in this program. The skills and resources developed by both parents and students through this program go a long way toward easing the transition to school, and equip parents with the information and tools they need to help their child succeed.’ Community Partner, 2011

2011 Statistics

It was a busy year for RfSC programs with the new EYET expanded programming in the Regent Park community as well as the 6 other returning schools.  Overall statistics include:

145 Families
156 Parents/Caregivers (149/7)
148 Children
102 Siblings

179 workshops (including library trips)

Interpretation was provided in 9 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Tigrinia, Bengali, French, Urdu and Dari

5 volunteers contributed 1029.5 hours (A big thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers and students with us this summer!)

Healthy Child Screenings: A total of 210 children were screened at 5 events

With Thanks…

What a year! A big thank you to all of the schools, community partners, staff, teachers, principals, volunteers, funders and families that made this possible.

Now if only we could find a way to make your dream for Ready for School Connects come true and be in EVERY school (we are working on it!)

Back to school is on everyone’s mind today and none more than the RfSC parents and children as they begin their school adventure today. Read about one RfSC parent’s story in this Toronto Star article (scroll down to the last interview!)

Does RfSC work? You bet it does!

Video testimonials are posted on the home page (more to come!)

Through the evaluation focus groups we have captured some great quotes from parents that highlight their experiences with Ready for School Connects. Here are a few samples:

“This program was designed for me. Every time I saw the sheet of what we were doing tomorrow I said: ‘Oh, I need to learn about this!’” Sprucecourt parent, 2011

“The kind of discipline they are learning i.e. raising hands, sitting in circle, standing during the national anthem, listening, not shouting, is not only important at school but in daily life.” Crescent Town parent, 2011

“I have met new friends.” Crescent Town parent, 2011

Visit next month when the final evaluation report becomes available.

Dates to Remember

The next Ready for School Connects Advisory meeting takes place on Tuesday, October 18th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at 1900 Davenport Road. New members are welcome, please contact Rachel for details.

Thank you!

To the many staff, community partners, teachers and principals, heartfelt thanks for all you do to make this program so successful!

A big thank you to Ve’ahavta for providing backbacks for all of the 2011 RfSC graduates!

Volunteer opportunity available for past program participants. We are looking for a few parents who are interested in helping with the evaluation of the summer RfSC programs. Training in group facilitation and recording is provided. Contact Rachel for details.

EYET brings RfSC to Sprucecourt Public School this summer! Two new sessions will run during the end of July and beginning of August. Best of luck!

Celebrating a successful program and partnership with Carleton Village PS! Thanks to all the families, teachers, staff and partners that have made this new program such a success. This new model explored running the RfSC program during the school year which has added benefits to families and teaching staff. Children had the opportunity to join a Kindergarten class and meet the KG teachers. Parents were able to get to know school staff and available resources. The KG teachers were able to get to know the children and families prior to the September start of school. We look forward to seeing all of you at the reunion in July – details to follow.

Thank you Green Shield Canada for your support of the expansion of Ready for School Connects!

Ready for School Connects programs will be held in 6 schools in 2011! (Carleton Village, Pauline, St Paul, Secord, George Webster and Crescent Town)

RfSC will be presenting at the TDSB’s Celebrating Linguistic Diversity conference on April 28^th.  Click here to download the brochure.

On May 4^th RfSC will have a display at the TDSB’s Futures conference on behalf of the Model Schools Programs. Come stop by and visit!  www.tdsbfutures.com

A big thank you to the McLean Family Foundation for the donation to Ready for School Connects!

New Resources

Growing Up in a New Land is a manual from the Best Start Resource Centre that assists service providers who work with newcomer families with children 0 – 6. It includes a list of resources, programs and activities and is available to download free by clicking here

Ready for School Connects has been working with Carleton Village and Pauline PS program staff to develop a series of take home Recipes for Parent-Child Activities. We are happy to share the resource – enjoy!

Dates to remember

RfSC Program Leader Training will be held on June 7 & 9, 2011 at AccessPoint on Danforth.