GERALDTON—The City of Geraldton, the EarlyON Centre, Geraldton Composite High School and local families, are looking forward to celebrating the grand opening of the Geraldton Day Care & EarlyON Centre.
According to GeryLynn Christianson, administrative assistance for Superior Greenstone District School Board, “The Superior-Greenstone District School Board, in partnership with the Municipality of Greenstone and supported by the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board, received funding to relocate the Geraldton Day Care and Best Start Centre to the B.A. Parker and Geraldton Composite High School complex.”
Plans for this project were first announced in February of 2017, with funding that would see the Geraldton Child Care and Best Start Centre relocated to the B.A. Parker/Geraldton Composite High School complex. At that time, the school board had received confirmation from the Ministry of Education that the funding amount had increased from the $1.6 million that was initially reported, to just over $3.2 million.
The school board, in partnership with the Municipality of Greenstone and supported by the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board, planned to use the funds to retrofit and expand the current B.A. Parker Public School to include the Child Care and Best Start Programs.
Director of education, David Tamblyn had stated that, “this project has been the vision of our school board and the municipality for a number of years, and after several attempts to secure funding, we have been successful.”
At the time funding for this was being secured, the capital funding supported the government’s plan to create an additional 100,000 new licensed child care spaces over the next five years.
The development of this day care and the EarlyOn centre would bring long needed improvements to the day care programs available to families. Greenstone Mayor Renald Beaulieu stated that, “It will improve access and the quality of daycare services within Greenstone.”
This project strengthens the board’s vision to create a “hub” that supports families through accessible programs and services from birth to adulthood, and meet the needs of children and families. According to the board, this is the role that the day care and Best Start will adopt.
The grand opening is set to take place Aug. 31, 2022, at 2 p.m. at B.A. Parker and Geraldton Composite High School. As the Board gets closer to this event, more information and updates will be provided.
