Today is Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day, and we are celebrating our Designated Early Childhood Educators (DECE).
Our DECEs bring their training and expertise in early childhood education and development into our classrooms to form a partnership with Kindergarten teachers that benefits our youngest learners. This year, more than ever, we know how important it is to have caring adults working with our students to help them adjust to new routines, make them feel safe and comfortable in their learning environment whether virtual or in-person, and support their learning and growth.
Our DECEs are finding new ways to engage students in play-based learning while adhering to health and safety guidelines or in virtual learning environments. They are creating warm, welcoming, inclusive learning spaces that are helping students adjust or re-adjust to school. You are helping our students to build strong foundations of learning that will support their success in the years ahead.
Thank you for making learning so engaging for our youngest learners and for supporting them at this very important stage in their learning and development. Please join me in thanking and celebrating our DECEs today.
Education is very much a partnership, and we also want to take this opportunity to recognize some of those partners.
We work with a number of child care providers who offer child care and before and after care programs in our schools, helping to create a seamless day of care for our students and families. We know how hard you are also working to keep our students healthy and safe, and to support their care, growth and development. Yours is an important job, and we thank you for your partnership and all that you do.
School Bus Driver Appreciation Day
Yesterday was also School Bus Driver Appreciation Day, and I want to say a special thank you to our school bus drivers and our partners at Student Transportation Services of York Region who make sure our students arrive at school and back home safely every day. For our students who use school transportation, our school bus and taxi drivers are among the first faces they see every day to start their mornings. Our families put great trust in the care and professionalism of drivers, and they deliver on that trust. The global pandemic has changed the way we all conduct our work, and we are truly grateful for your efforts to protect the health, safety and well-being of our students every year, and for the additional measures you are putting in place this year.
If the past seven months have taught us anything, it is that we are all in this together, and I am grateful every day for the outstanding staff members and partners who are working to make this challenging year a healthy, positive and successful one for our students and families.