Yoga, science, drama and physical education are all part of the curriculum at Core Education and Fine Arts, which will be coming to South Surrey later this year.

Unlike regular schools, however, CEFA students are toddlers.

Based around the premise that the brain’s most formative years happen before age six, the junior kindergarten program aims to introduce academics to children through fun and games at the age of two.

Tots continue the program for three years, before starting kindergarten as usual at five years old.

There are seven CEFA schools around the Lower Mainland, with the newest one set to open in November at 15300 Croydon Dr. It will have eight classrooms, 26 teachers and up to 250 young scholars.

CEO and founder Natacha Beim said the school gives Peninsula families an opportunity to introduce their children to a system already implemented in other parts of the world.

“Most other countries have junior kindergarten. They all have different ways of teaching it,” she said. “White Rock is a community that’s very focused on education. I think CEFA is very much what they’re looking for.”

Beim, who was born in Montreal and taught junior kindergarten in France, recognized a gap in the Canadian education system for children under five upon returning to the country.

“It’s funny how here we don’t start school until the brain is developed,” she said. “Children are so curious and I find often we leave them to do nothing with that time.”

So, Beim designed her own junior kindergarten program.

“It was a hard decision because it would’ve been much easier to teach (elementary school),” she said, noting she then considered the future. “I thought, wow, when my children are here, what will they do? If it isn’t there and we can provide it, let’s provide it.”

She opened her first school 11 years ago in West Vancouver.

Now, about 150 teachers are employed through the organization.

There are full- and part-time schedules, ranging from two to five days a week, and children are asked to attend for a maximum of eight hours a day during school hours, 7:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Beim said CEFA is child-centred versus teacher-centred, and lessons are taught through games.

With 12 to 16 students per classroom, toddlers engage in art – working with collages, clay and paint – as well as physical education, where they play various sports.

Reading is introduced with puppetry, and math is used to encourage children to reason and problem-solve.

Classes perform experiments together during science lessons, and learn about other countries in a culture-immersion program.

“You can play with children and you can set up the environment so they’re stimulating the brain,” Beim said. “We try to have them discover things rather than teaching them. Now you have an environment where children are free to explore.

“The child wouldn’t notice we’re trying to teach them long division.”

Beim said CEFA is comparable in price to local daycare, and each location has an onsite chef who prepares breakfast, lunch and a snack.

Beim created a one-year training program for CEFA teachers, which they take on top of their early-childhood education degree.

“Without that training, they wouldn’t be able to function in that kind of environment,” she said, noting 50 people went through the training last year.

Her next project is to offer the South Surrey community free parenting seminars out of the new school.

In the meantime, Beim is taking on a much larger initiative.

After years of advocating for junior kindergarten to be included in the school system, Beim is now working more closely with the provincial government to make that possible. Earlier this year, voluntary all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds by this September was delayed due to current economic circumstances, the need to develop appropriate space and the time to recruit qualified educators.

However, a commitment to “meet that need as soon as possible” was included in last February’s Throne Speech.

For more information about the South Surrey school, call 778-294-2646, e-mail whiterock@cefa.ca or visit www.cefa.ca