Since the 2003 formation of Enfield’s Early Education Collaborative, Key Initiatives To
Early Education (KITE), the Enfield Public Schools has sat at the table as a committed
partner. The mission of KITE is to ensure that all families with young children in Enfield
have knowledge of, and access to, quality early care and educational opportunities both in
and outside of the home. KITE works to heighten awareness and aims to promote the shared
use of local resources to ensure that our youngest residents are prepared to learn. The work is
guided by a comprehensive Early Childhood Community Plan with three areas of focus: Early
Education and Care, Health, and Family Engagement.
Being a part of a strong, town-wide collaborative provides numerous opportunities to work together on behalf of
Enfield’s children, birth to age 8. The first five years of a child’s life are particularly important for the development of the
child's brain, and the first three years are the most critical in shaping the child's brain architecture.
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Partnering with KITE, Enfield Public Schools has had the opportunity to participate in a state sponsored Age 3 to
Grade 3 Institute affording the district the opportunity to create an action plan to align teaching practices and
curriculum to a state framework. As an outgrowth of that work, practices and strategies are being implemented in
various areas including: increasing family engagement, sharing professional development for area early educators
and the schools, opening lines of communication between early education and care centers and the primary
schools, and embedding techniques to support the development of executive function skills in children.
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Asnuntuck Community College has created an Asnuntuck Substitute Teacher Training Institute in partnership
with the Enfield Public Schools and KITE. The Institute offers training to individuals who are currently employed
as a substitute teacher and/or those wishing to become a substitute teacher in the future. Instruction is given on a
variety of classroom management skills, including strategies for working with special needs children, and how to
handle emergency situations. The coursework is designed for students interested in substitute teaching in Pre-K
through grade two classrooms.
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First Readers is a unique town-wide program that recognizes and celebrates a key milestone in learning becoming a reader! Once a child has been cert