I can begin by saying I taught kindergarten for 13 years in Bathurst, and that is certainly my experience. I know we see the discrepancy in skills of students arriving in kindergarten, and the statistics are there, because the assessments are done. My experience is in New Brunswick, but we register them a year early so that we can assess them, and then we provide supports for families to access these programs. However, there is no requirement, and not all families are able to take advantage of that.
I'm familiar with St. John the Baptist. I've been there, and certainly they are doing some fabulous work. Early learning is essential. We know that in the first five years of age, stimulation is needed, as are access to reading and literacy, that one-to-one strong relationship with an adult, speaking skills, and language acquisition. All of that is essential. I think we really do need to focus.
I had a teacher one time say to me, “I don't know what you do in elementary, but they come to us and they can't do this, and they can't do that.” I said, “You know, really, they don't come to us equal.” Kids are not coming into school with equality of skills and equality of experiences, and we certainly see that, and we try our best to—