Koala T. Care Daycare runs infant, toddler, preschool, kindergarten and school-age before and after school programs, as well as summer camp, march break, PA day and Christmas break camps.
Koala T. Care Daycare values and respects children’s individuality. Children are viewed as competent, capable and rich in potential. We are dedicated to providing positive experiences, interactions and environments to support children’s health, well-being, safety, learning and development.
We believe that children learn best when they are engaged through interactions, play and hands on activities. Learning should be fun and natural. Our programs consist of a balance between child-initiated activities and adult supported experiences. Planning experiences based on children’s inquiries and interests allow children to lead their own learning and exploration. Our goal is for early childhood educators to focus on investigating children’s questions and interests when thinking about teaching, learning and programming and working on projects.
Our educators provide an engaging environment and hands on learning activities for children throughout their days. Children’s learning and development is observed and documented by our educators who reference the Ontario Early Learning Framework for skills and developmental domains. Observations are sent to parents in order to include them in their children’s education and are used to set new goals specific to each child. Our view of the child as competent, capable and rich in potential inspires us to create experiences that challenge and excite our children. Our pedagogy is informed through the Ministry of Education (2014) How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years.
Our care and education are based on our holistic view of children and their development. Below are our overarching goals for our programs at Koala:
Promote the health, safety, nutrition and well-being of children;
- Daily health checks and conducted and recorded by educators each morning
- Children will be provided with nutritional meals and snacks consistent with Canada’s Food Guide
- Children will have access to safe drinking water throughout the day
- Educators and staff will ensure the environment inside and outside is safe and clean – regular environment checks will be done to ensure broken toys and anything deemed unsafe is removed from the environment the children will be in
- Policies prioritizing health and safety will be reviewed by all staff
- Classroom routines will limit/eliminate transitions that may cause unnecessary stress to the children
- Educators will review and familiarize themselves with information regarding children’s health, safety and well-being (medical conditions, allergies, food restrictions, exceptionalities, custody concerns, etc.).
- Educators will be responsive to children’s health, safety and wellbeing at all times
Support positive and responsive interactions among the children, parents, child care providers and staff;
All staff will support positive and responsive interactions among children, parents and child care providers
The supervisor/designate will hire qualified, responsive and compassionate educators for the classrooms
Training regarding positive and responsive interactions can be taken by educators, and support staff can also provide educators with briefing on Learning Language and Loving it research base strategies
Encourage children to interact and communicate in a positive way and support their ability to self-regulate;
Educators will acknowledge children as competent, curious and rich in potential while supporting their ability to interact positively and self-regulate
Supervisor/designate trains new educators and reviews with existing educators PowerPoint on research based positive approaches to working with behaviours and supporting self-regulation skills
Educators will be familiar with the definition of self-regulation (ability to gain control of bodily functions, manage powerful emotions and maintain focus and attention) and will work to provide support, encouragement and experiences where children can develop self-regulation skills.
Foster children’s exploration, play and inquiry;
Educators will foster children’s exploration, play and inquiry throughout the day by providing a variety of developmentally appropriate, engaging activities and a rich environment
Educators will value activities that allow children to learn in active and hands on ways
Educators will engage alongside of children in the learning
Children will explore interest and inquires they have with their educators through various projects in the classroom
The program coordinator will support educators by helping to provide resources, materials and ideas for foster children’s exploration, play and inquiry
Provide child initiated and adult-supported experiences;
Educators will provide a variety of activities throughout the program, some child-initiated and some adult supported
Educators will observe and listen to children before they plan an environment and experiences that are based on the interests of the children
Educators will play/work alongside of children in order to introduce new ways of thinking, new concepts, new facts and new challenges
Educators are responsible for continually exposing children to activities, environments and concepts that children will learn and develop from
Educators will reflect on the environment and activities in their classrooms regarding children’s learning. development, interest and engagement
Plan for and create a positive learning environment in which each child’s learning and development will be supported;
Educators will follow Koala’s environment guidelines and expectations when planning and creating their classroom learning environment (i.e. open ended activities, natural and inviting, open art studio, etc.).
Educators have access to resources (i.e. ECERS assessment tool, laptop, program coordinator, etc.) to help evaluate and plan their environment
Educators will reference research based documents (How does learning happen, OELF) when planning their classroom and learning centers
Incorporate indoor and outdoor play, as well as active play, rest, and quiet time, into the day, and give consideration to the unique needs of the children receiving child care;
Children will experience a minimum of 2 hours of outside play (weather permitting) each day.
Children will have nap time if needed, and alternatively just a rest/quiet time
Educators will consider children’s individual needs for sleep/quiet time
Foster the engagement of and ongoing communication with parents about the program and their children;
Communication with parents/guardians is an important part of providing quality care – regular communication takes place through “hi mama” emails, in person and by phone. Educators may also post program related communication up in the classrooms.
Parents are able to reply to their children’s pictures/learning stories throughout the day via “hi mama”
Involve local community partners and allow those partners to support the children, their families, and staff;
Our partnerships are an important part of providing quality care
Supporting our families and children is helped by our community partners such as REACH, speech therapists, facilitators, counsellors, etc.
Educators and our program coordinator can plan learning opportunities in and with community partners (i.e. nursing home) for the children
We will refer parents/guardians to resources and our local community partners when needed as well
Support staff or others who interact with children in relation to continuous professional learning;
Staff will be made aware of upcoming professional learning opportunities
Educators will have incentives to engage in professional learning (i.e. raising the bar awards, paid wages and meals in some cases, completing professional portfolio).
In house training and professional learning will be provided to accommodate educators unable to travel to some
Staff meeting and team meetings will have time for professional learning, “pedagogy talk,” reflective practice and collaboration/idea sharing.
Document and review the impact of strategies on children and their families.
