Nursery school celebrates 50 years providing building blocks of learning

Parent-led co-operative has vested interest in early childhood education

Whether learning to hold a pencil or spell their name, the educational journey of countless Kings County children started at the Berwick and District Nursery School.

Over half a century, it has become known to the community as a little school with a big heart, a place where many lifelong friendships have begun.

“To me, there is no better place to send a child,” said Joanna McGrath, co-president of the Berwick and District Nursery School parent executive.

Although she lives in Centreville, well outside the Berwick catchment area, she has travelled the distance to bring her kids to the school. McGrath said, “there’s nothing like it in the Valley.”

They are now seeing second – perhaps even third generation students.

“I think for us as parents, you get to know the teachers, you get to see the exciting things that your kids are doing, you’re involved, and you have a vested interest in seeing things move forward,” McGrath said.

Structured as a parent-led co-operative with a parentled executive, the Berwick and District Nursery School will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021. They hold an annual election for positions on the parent executive, which include president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. Through committing volunteer hours and fundraising, the parents work to help keep tuition costs as low as possible. McGrath said this helps create a sense of community within the school and helps teach the children from an early age how people can work together to accomplish goals.

Considering the costs of child care, it also helps make the nursery school more inclusive and accessible. There are also subsidized spots available.

Most recently, when a play structure had to be replaced, the school community worked together to fundraise and have a new natural playground installed. This incorporates natural elements such as a wooden play structure and blocks for the kids to use their imaginations and build with.

“It’s looking toward the future and being more invested in the natural aspects of outside and teaching children about nature,” McGrath said.

They held a fundraising dinner and auction to pay for the play structure, and volunteers representing the Canadian military helped construct it.

Looking ahead, McGrath said the next major project would involve establishing an outdoor classroom, the second phase of the natural playground.

LOVING THE JOB

Director and teacher Cindy Gates-Dee said her children’s educations began at Berwick and District Nursery School. As her eldest daughter was heading off to Grade Primary, a teacher was leaving, and Gates-Dee was hired.

She has been with the school for 23 years now and has enjoyed seeing so many lifelong friendships blossom - among both the parents and the children.

“For me, it has been just a wonderful experience working with the parents, the co-operative part of it,” Gates-Dee said. “Of course, the children at that age are just wonderful.”

She said she is not a business person, so having the parents involved in that aspect has been great for her. Gates-Dee said she enjoys working with other people and letting them explore their strengths. She has found this very helpful to the school in weathering some hard times over the years.

When asked what it is that she enjoys most about the role she has played at the school over the past 20 years, assistant director and teacher Christa Reid was quick to answer, “I love the kids.” Like McGrath and Gates-Dee, Reid’s children attended the

Berwick and District Nursery School.

“The kids are what makes it fun. Every day they put a smile on your face, you never know what they are going to say,” she said.

The first five years of life are perhaps the most formative. Reid said she enjoys watching the children progress over time, learning how to hold a pencil correctly or spell their name, for example. It makes her proud to see their accomplishments.

THE EVOLUTION

Reading from a history of the school prepared by the parent executive 35 years ago, Gates-Dee said the school was started by a group of women in Berwick who wanted their children to have some learning experiences before they started Grade Primary.

They started a co-operative, not-for-profit organization they called the Berwick Nursery School and formed an executive.

In 1971, the first classes were held with teacher Janet Easson in the old Berwick Elementary School. There were two classes of three-year-olds and two classes of four-yearolds.

“From there, it kind of bounced around to different places and then the co-operative purchased the land that we’re on now on Orchard Street and they changed the name to the Berwick and District Nursery School,” GatesDee said.

The co-operative raised funds to build the school’s current facility, which opened in November 1986. The facility has since evolved into what it is today, undergoing various upgrades and renovations over the years.

Now, the student body includes children ranging in age from two-and-a-half to five years old. There are classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the two-and-a-half and three-year-old children, who then roll over into Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes the following year.

It’s a part-day program, with classes running from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Like other schools, they are closed over the summer.

Reid said they also have students who attend for one year starting at age four, so it’s the choice of parents whether students start earlier or later.

One strength of the school is teacher continuity. McGrath said there is an added benefit to the fact that GatesDee and Reid have been teaching as a team for so long. They play off one another’s strengths and run the school like a well-oiled machine, creating “a wonderful atmosphere for children.”

SPACES AVAILABLE McGrath said registration for the coming school year starting in September is now open and there are plenty of spaces available. For more information, email berwickpreschool@eastlink.ca or call 902-538-9680. If there is no answer, leave a message. You can also visit the Berwick and District Nursery School on Facebook and Instagram.

“To me, there is no better place to send a child,” Joanna McGrath Parent executive, Berwick Nursery School

hour-and-a-half journey to Hope for Wildlife’s rehabilitation centre in Seaforth.

“It can certainly make the difference,” said Swinimer, noting that there will be less suffering for the animals coming into care.

A registered veterinary technician is based out of the new drop-off centre located at 1668 Deep Hollow Road in White Rock. Volunteers will visit the centre daily to pick up wildlife ready to be transferred to the larger rehabilitation centre in Seaforth.

The building that now houses the new drop-off centre in the Annapolis Valley was donated to Hope for Wildlife.

“The husband and wife that owned it wanted it to go to something to do with nature, and so this was just the perfect fit,” said Swinimer.

The couple’s daughter, Heather Schofield, donated the property to Hope for Wildlife in honour of her late parents.

“I am thrilled to have the property go to Hope for Wildlife. It’s a wonderful organization that cares deeply about our natural world. I know my parents, Ronald and Neva Schofield, would be incredibly pleased with this decision,” she said via email.

Swinimer dreams of having drop-off centres in Yarmouth, near Cape Breton and along Nova Scotia’s south shore one day. She said Hope for Wildlife receives thousands of calls from the Annapolis Valley in the run of a year.

Six animals had been dropped off at the White Rock facility between opening day on April 26 and the early afternoon of April 30. Swinimer suspects to see the numbers spike as the new babies born this spring become increasingly active and more people learn about the Valley’s dropoff

Hope for Wildlife now has a drop-off centre in the Annapolis Valley thanks to a donation from a local family. The charitable wildlife rehabilitation organization spent about eight months transforming the home into a facility that will stabilize injured or orphaned wildlife prior to the hour-and-a-half long drive to its main treatment facility in Seaforth.

location.

“It seems like there’s always more things to do, but I feel that’s what it’s all about, just little steps to help improve the care that we give these wild creatures,” she said.

She has some good news to report about a Hope for Wildlife patient that made headlines in March. A beaver Kings District RCMP members

helped usher to safety when it was found injured along Commercial Street in New Minas on March 27 is on the mend.

“He’s now swimming two or three times a day, which is great progress from where he was,” she said.

The beaver is still recovering from a brain injury, but the Hope for Wildlife team is noting incremental improvements in its condition.

“He’s very happy to be in a big, big outside unit,” said Swinimer. “He’s having a blast.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Hope for Wildlife is open 24/7 for drop-offs of injured wildlife. In the event of an emergency, call (902) 407-9453.