GORHAM – With their homework done, Gorham school officials are slated next week to upgrade the district’s kindergarten at its three elementary schools to an all-day program.

“We spent a whole year getting ready,” Brian Porter, principal at Village Elementary School, said on Tuesday. “We’re really excited about it.”

Gorham kindergarten and grades 6 and 9 will start school on Wednesday, Aug. 27. The first day for all other grades is Thursday, Aug. 28.

Village, Narragansett and Great Falls elementary schools will hold kindergarten orientation programs for parents and students from 9-10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27, at each of the three schools. Parents will have the opportunity to meet and talk with teachers.

“The program is all set to go,” Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp said.

According to the school district’s figures on Aug. 13, Great Falls has 52 kindergarten students; Narragansett, 17; and Village, 69. But, Porter said, the number at Village School, which had 65 in kindergarten last year, has bumped up to 75 with recent registrations.

Ten years ago, the total kindergarten enrollment was 192, according to school figures.

Kindergarten in Gorham has been a half-day program. Gorham is one of last school districts in Cumberland County to step up to full-day kindergarten.

“Gorham has been researching and considering the impacts of all-day kindergarten since 2005,” Dennis Libby, chairman of the School Committee, said this week.

In 2012, a group of parents ramped up a campaign to urge the School Committee to budget all-day kindergarten. The group succeeded earlier this year.

The extended kindergarten was included in the $34.1 million school budget for this academic year and handily won approval by town voters in June.

Libby said that the projected cost of implementing the all-day program is about $536,000, which includes additional staff.

Last year, Village School had two kindergarten teachers, but this year hired two additional, experienced teachers – Carrie Foley and Danielle Underhill. Village School created two additional classrooms by converting spaces from other uses.

In anticipation that the all-day kindergarten would be approved, Porter said, a district kindergarten review team was formed to prepare for implementing the program.

“Our community is putting a lot of trust in us,” Porter said. “We need to do this right.”

The review team visited other communities that have similar schools and programs.

“The K-5 administrators from all three schools met regularly last year with the kindergarten teachers to review the K program,” Polly Brann, principal at Narragansett School, said.

Brann said topics the review team discussed included curriculum, instruction, calendar of events, code of conduct, classroom technology and daily schedules.

“We are prepared and very excited to begin,” Brann said.

Libby said all-day kindergarten is “very important to give our kindergartners the solid beginning they need to start a long educational journey.”

School Committee member John Doyle said, “I hope that the implementation of all-day kindergarten will afford Gorham students the opportunity to surpass baseline standards from an early age so that they may continue to excel as they progress to more advanced studies.”

Porter said kindergarten is one of the most intense grades to teach.

“You’re preparing them for life,” he said.

For the students, kindergarten marks a beginning with many firsts – like a school bus ride. The all-day program lessens transportation needs.

“We actually reduce driver hours by one hour per day for 10 drivers due to the loss of the mid-day runs,” Norm Justice, director of transportation, said.

Under the full-day program, school for kindergarten students will run 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Eating a meal at school will be another first for kindergartners.

Older students at Village School will mentor kindergarten kids.

“It’s the spirit of our school,” Porter said.

When Porter needs a break during school, he goes to the kindergarten wing.

“They’re awesome,” Porter said. “It makes you smile when you see them.”

Kelli Deveaux, an assistant principal at Windham High School, played a key role as a parent in the drive for all-day kindergarten in Gorham.

“As an educator and a mother, I am thrilled that our community has recognized the value and importance of early childhood education and supported the implementation of ?all-day K? in Gorham,” Deveaux said. ? “?I have great confidence in the preparation and commitment of the Gorham elementary staff, and look forward to the up-close view I will have of their work as the mother of a kindergartner at Village School both this and next year.”

Deveaux’s son, Bennett Deveaux, 5, said, “I’m excited to go to Village School, because I am going to meet new friends, and my new teacher. And ‘cause I might do things that are fun, like a little bit of math, some reading and writing, and I might get homework five days a week.”

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A CLOSER LOOK

Gorham kindergarten and grades 6 and 9 will start school on Wednesday, Aug. 27. The first day for all other grades is Thursday, Aug. 28. Bus schedules are available by visiting www.gorhamschools.org/Transportation.

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Brian Porter, principal of Village Elementary School in Gorham, readies for opening day next week when an all-day kindergarten program gets under way.