The Prince Albert Catholic School Division updated their map of early learning educational opportunities that was initially created in 2021 and brought back for the 2024-2025 school year.
Superintendent Charity Dmytruk provided the update at their meeting on Feb. 23.
As part of the 2024-25 update, the division completed a family mapping process where they gathered input from families of young children to better understand their experience accessing early learning services, navigating support, and transitioning into school. “I really want to credit our superintendent, Charity Dmytruk, for her work, and of course, our partners in this community mapping project,” director of education Lorel Trumier said.
“It really does help to understand the pathways that young children from zero to six have prior to starting school. and ensuring that there’s resources for them.”
Prince Albert was one of six communities selected by the Ministry of Education to complete an Early Years Mapping Project during the 2020-21 school year. The Prince Albert Catholic School Division was the lead for the project in the community.
During the meeting on Feb. 23, Dmytruk discussed the services that are available and how they are linked.
Trumier said documenting those services was a mjor task that involved following through with many of their partners.
The purpose of the community map is to construct an inventory of local early years services programming and groups by creating a visual map of local services. The map can be used to identify areas of strength and innovation, along with weaknesses and area for future action.
“We’re also looking at linkages that occur from one support service to another and how we can strengthen them,” Trumier said.
The Catholic Division Early Years Map is an update to the 2021 map.
According to the memo, Student Transitions is one of four priorities in the Provincial Education Plan. Milestone two in the plan focuses on the transitions in the early years. One of the actions in Milestone two is that each School Division and First Nations Educational Authority complete an Early Years Mapping for their community.
The project was completed and submitted to the Ministry of Education in the fall of 2025.
Trumier said that Prince Albert has many services available.
“When you live in Prince Albert, we’re served very well with so many different partner agencies to meet the needs of children, so I think that’s a very good success story for Prince Albert,” she said.
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