Local summit on school readiness organized by the CSSS Cavendish

All together to help our children

The local summit on school readiness organized by the CSSS Cavendish on April 3rd at Centre de Saint-Raymond, was an enormous success. Around one hundred people gathered to discuss the children of our territory and to see if we can better prepare the vulnerable children to get on the road to school successfully.

The story of the summit

In the spring of 2006, the Direction de la Santé publique made public results from an important analysis about school readiness of Montreal children. More than 10,000 children registered in public schools at the kindergarten level and 5 years of age (71% of the population) were analyzed. This was a “populational” study with data that was representative on a neighbourhood scale aiming, for the very first time, to discover and better understand the development of children 0 to 5 years in order to be improve their well-being and ensure their future success in school.

The school readiness portrait is a way to identify vulnerable children, that is the children who will not benefit as much from learning in a school context and who therefore are more likely to have problems in school.

How are the children of the CSSS Cavendish?  

• 73% evaluated attended a francophone school
• 41% had a mother tongue other that French or English.
• 25% of the children were born outside Canada, a higher number than in Montréal (15%).
• 25% of the children were in welcoming classes compared with 14% in Montréal
• An average of 33.9% of children are considered vulnerable in at least one of the five domains of school readiness. Overall, the CSSS is one of seven CSSSs in Montréal whose numbers are below the Montreal statistics (35 %). 
• As compared to Montréal, the CSSS Cavendish has a higher number of vulnerable children in the area of communication skills and general knowledge: 15.1% for the CSSS Cavendish and 13.4% for Montréal.

Regional Summit

 In May 2009, a regional Summit organized by the Direction de santé publique took place with all the CSSS of the Montréal region. During this regional Summit, the "Déclaration montréalaise sur le développement de l'enfant" was adopted.

For more information about the results: www.santepub-mtl.qc.ca

• Document - Enquête sur la maturité scolaire, CSSS Cavendish (In French only).
• Document - Déclaration montréalaise sur le développement de l'enfant (In French only).