Pre-schools hold city parade

You may not have been aware of it, but the nation’s tiny tots spent the entire month of March doing fun, educational activities to help spark their mental and physical development. News Five was there when the city’s various preschoolers joined hands to celebrate early childhood education.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

Hundreds of preschoolers paraded from the Bliss Institute to the Memorial Park to culminate the activities held to celebrate child stimulation month.

Throughout March these young girls and boys received important lessons in health and safety. Some preschoolers were also taken on trips to various interesting sites across the country.

Madine Harris, Principal, YWCA Pre School

“What we did…we did a lot of people coming into the preschool and talking to the children instead of going out because you know we have a lot of them, 171 of them and so it would have been kind of difficult carrying them all over the place.”

Deborah McClaren, Principal, Small World Preschool

“We had various activities, we went to the zoo, we went on bus tour, a tour of Belize City, we had park day, we had little functions like tree planting and school flag raising and a puppet show.”

Gwendolyn Jones, Teacher, Catholic Day Care Centre

“For this month we had educational field trips, we had arts and craft exhibition, we had social evening with the parents and children and leading up to the parade.”

Jacqueline Woods

“How did the children do with the various activities, did they enjoy themselves?”

Gwendolyn Jones

“They enjoyed every moment of it.”

Deborah McClaren

“It’s very important because it helps them to learn it’s not only them sitting down and coloring, but they are doing different activities to help them advance themselves and grow as children.”

Despite the heat of the day, the children enjoyed the parade and did not mind the walk that took them from Southern Foreshore into Regent Street, over the swing bridge onto North Front Street and to the Memorial Park. Once at the park there were no scheduled speeches or entertainment as in previous years but the preschoolers never seem to mind. They spent the time refreshing themselves with water and some parents and teachers took some memorable photos before everyone departed for their respective schools.