Each year, nearly 30% of students in Saskatoon Public Schools, through no fault of their own, do not achieve Grade 3 literacy upon the completion of Grade 3. These facts are even more concerning in our core neighborhoods where up to 60% of Grade 3 students do not achieve this critical milestone that can set them on a path for on-time high school graduation. Overwhelmingly, these students reside in the most impoverished areas of our city, where many students self-identify as First Nations, Inuit, Métis, or new Canadians. 

Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation (SPSF) launched Early Learning Equal Start (ELES) in November 2020.  This ambitious and critical $20M campaign fully funded 4 initiatives: full-day Pre-Kindergarten, full-day Kindergarten, Page Turners Tutors, and Camp Brain Power to ensure students can reach the critical milestone of Grade 3 reading in Grade 3. SPSF implemented the 4 initiatives of ELES in September 2021 in the 14 identified core schools within Saskatoon Public Schools. The results for these students are dramatic and promising.  Over 80% of students in the core community schools are shown to achieve expected benchmarks. This is significantly better than what is normally experienced in these schools.

In 2023–24, Saskatoon Public Schools expanded the program with a focus on Full-Day, Every-Day Kindergarten, offering 29 programs across 25 schools. This growth was fully funded by Early Learning Equal Start.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, SPSF has completed our goal of raising $20 Million for Early Learning Equal Start! Although we achieved this milestone, we are still far from being done. The work continues and all donations are greatly appreciated.

Every donation helps a child learn to read, thus changing their future, the future of our communities, and the future of Saskatchewan.