Parkside Daycare is a welcoming and caring childcare centre that offers an enriched learning environment provided by experienced, caring and responsive Early Childhood Educators and assistants. Our program embraces the Ministry of Educations “How Does Leaning Happen” document which views children as capable, competent, curious and rich in potential. We value this in all aspects of our program and support and encourage children to make choices, be independent and solve problems. Our educators provide an environment that continues to ignite children’s on-going curiosity and development. Children are able to learn about the world around them while building healthy relationships with other children and adults. We connect with each child recognizing his or her unique spirit and individuality.
Belonging
At Parkside we believe that fostering good relationships with children and families are a vital component of our program. We welcome families to join our program, by making our documentation visible for parents to read, inviting them into our classroom and having special events. Some of these events include; Sensory Night, Mud over Matter, Mother and Father’s Day events, and our end of Summer Barbeque. This gives the parents opportunities to be valuable contributors to their children’s learning. These events allow children to make connections to their world and feel a sense of belonging. By developing these relationships between children and adults the families develop trust, confidence and a sense of belonging within centre.
Engagement
At Parkside we provide environments that are inviting, stimulating and available for the children to engage in active, creative, and meaningful exploration through play and inquiry. Our classrooms contain a wide variety of objects and open-ended materials for children to explore, manipulate and investigate. We view the educators as co learners, which means planning, participating, and learning with the children about his or her curiosities. When children are able to generate ideas and make meaningful choices, they tend to be attentive and motivated to learn. Depending on the children’s interest we provide fun hands on experiences and bring in fun and exciting special events like mad science, reptiles zoos and music. This engages children and values their ideas, interests and natural curiosities.
Expression
We believe that every child is a capable communicator who expresses themselves in many ways. Our approach is based on listening, responding to, and building child- initiated communication which will promote children’s language and development of social skills, understanding and ability to pay attention. We facilitate all forms of expression and are aware of and try to understand and respond to the many “languages” children use to communicate, which gives every child a “voice”. Our program provides ample time, materials and space for children to express themselves through multiple creative avenues. We welcome different programs such as Salsa Tots, and pottery painting to encourage children to experience different ways of expression.
Well being
Well-being is an important part of a child’s overall physical, emotional and cognitive development. At Parkside we provide children with opportunities to be engaged in active physical play in a natural playground that is challenging yet safe. We bring in programs such as Soccer Shots and Yoga that keep children active, strengthens functioning in attention, perception, independence and self-control. We incorporate opportunities and time for children to practice self-help and self-care skills based on children’s capabilities.