Kindergarten Open Houses – Recruitment Campaign

Annual Kindergarten Open Houses are the first touchpoint that parents have with their child’s school and are the signature recruitment campaign for the school board.

The campaign, conceptualized and developed in-house, features Barkley, a canine mascot, designed to be fun, colourful, and appealing to a young audience. This character was chosen after our research found that dogs are the most loved pet by children due to their friendly nature. Barkley has his own book called, “Barkley’s First Day” that children relate to as well. This story, which was written and illustrated in house, tells of his journey being adopted into a family home. The story parallels the challenges and successes that children may experience when they go to school for the first time.

The DSBN’s staff hiring and budgeting for the following year’s cohort stem from the campaign’s ability to obtain as many Junior Kindergarten registrations during February as possible, typically a minimum of 3,000 registrations are received. This represents an influx of more than $41 million dollars in provincial funding to the DSBN.