All-day kindergarten will begin this September in School District 5, but not all five-year-olds will get the chance, including two Cranbrook elementary schools.

The two local schools that won’t have all-day kindergarten this fall are Highlands and Kootenay Orchards Elementary Schools, but the situation can’t be helped, says District 5 Board Chairman Frank Lento.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but the important thing to remember is we were put into this position by government. They only gave us funding for 200 students and we’re trying to do our best with what we’ve got.”

So far this year, approximately 300 students have registered for kindergarten this fall and there will be more before kindergarten actually begins in September, said District 5 Superintendent Bill Gook. The rate of registration is actually a little greater than what the District expected which makes it impossible to register all District 5 kindergarteners, he says.

As a result, some extra kindergarten classes are being scheduled, but they are half-day and not full-day classes. Full-day kindergarten won’t become district-wide until the 2011 – 2112 school year when it becomes a province-wide policy, Gook says.

As things stand now, full day kindergarten will take place in T.M. Roberts, Amy Woodland, Gordon Terrace, Pinewood and Steeples Elementary Schools in Cranbrook as well as Isabella Dicken Elementary in Fernie and Rocky Mountain Elementary School in Elkford.

There will be no full-day kindergarten classes this fall in Sparwood and Jaffray as well as at Highlands and Kootenay Orchards Elementary Schools in Cranbrook.

“We would like all the kids in full-day kindergarten now but when we only have funding for 200 and we have more than 300 registered already, there’s nothing we can do,” says Gook.

Complicating the situation is an unexpected kindergarten enrolment surge in the Amy Woodland neighbourhood,” he says. This resulted in an extra full-day kindergarten class being put on there.