Manitoba spends $3M, adds 50 teachers to keep class sizes small

The Manitoba government has piped more money into itspromise to keep elementary school class sizes small.

On Thursday, EducationMinister JamesAllumannounced another$3 millionto hire 50 additional teachers. That'son top of the$3 million the province added back in February.

• Manitoba spends another $3M to hire 50 new teachers
• Manitoba hires 100 teachers to stay on course for smaller classes
• More teachers hired in Manitoba to reduce class sizes
• Manitoba to limit K-3 classroom size

In 2011, the Manitoba government announced it would provide support to enable school divisions to cap kindergarten to Grade 3 classrooms at 20 students by September 2017.

More than 382 additional teachers have been hired across the provincesince thenand the latest funding brings the total to$13 million for the 2015-16 year, Allumsaid.

"With smaller classes, teachers have an increased opportunity to work with students to meet their individual needs," he said."As a result, students get the attention they need to establish solid foundational skills and excel academically throughout their school years and later on in life."

Sister MacNamara School Grade 3 teacher Tamara Prince said smaller class sizes have allowed her to give children more individual attention and focus on creating a strong classroom community.

"It feels more like a home and a classroom community where the kids feel safe to take risks because we all know each other as a group and as a team," Prince said. "One of the things that I've noticed personally is that we have developed deeper relationships, and the students feel safe to come and see me because we have that opportunity to team-build."

As of this September, more than 54 per cent of kindergarten to Grade 3 classes in theWinnipeg School Division already have 20 or fewer students, said MarkWasyliw, chair of the board for the division.

"Today's announcement will help us continue our efforts to establish smaller classes for our youngest students," he said.

School divisions are required to post class sizes of all kindergarten to Grade 3 classes on their websites.

Further information on the smaller classes initiative can be found on the provincial government website.