“That ICPA Qld lobbies relevant authorities for the allocation of a full-time early childhood teacher to small schools where the kindergarten enrolment exceeds 5 students in schools with total enrolments of greater than 18 and less than 25 students.”
Kindergarten students are as young as 3.5 – 4 years old when they commence kindergarten. In primary schools offering the State Delivered Kindergarten program to families in rural and remote communities there are also children representative of cohorts from Prep to Year 6. Effectively that means that a small school with enrolments of up to 25 students may have children in attendance from 3.5 years to 11 years of age with a teaching principal, a part-time teacher (if they are fortunate enough to find one) and teacher aides (if they are able to source any) Kindergarten students require constant supervision and age-appropriate planning by teaching staff. In instances where a school has between 18 and 25 students with more than 5 kindergarten students in attendance, there should be the appointment of an additional full-time Early Childhood teacher to cater for the additional demand of these younger children.
