Program Statement
Welcome to North Hastings Children's Services (NHCS) where we are more than a daycare! We are here to support you and your family and provide the resources you need so that you can fully embrace this incredible time in your life where you see your children emerge into thoughtful, caring, and responsible individuals. Here at NHCS we believe that your child has a fundamental right to grow and learn with cooperative peers and caring professional adults, in a space where your child is regarded as unique, competent, capable, curious and rich in potential. It is these views that determine our approach to you and your child, influence all our interactions, build relationships between us, guide our learning, create involvement in our community that you can have the benefit of and direct how we will program.
Consequently, we are striving to set up welcoming environments in our programs and services where you can be actively involved in your child’s learning, identify and resolve challenges, and contribute to yours and theirs well being and belonging. We want to hear about your observations of your child and share in your knowledge and experiences with your child so that a mutually beneficial connection between home and your child’s program can occur.
As part of this endeavour we offer a safe and healthy environment with nutritious meals and snacks, and rest or quiet time is incorporated into their day. Active indoor and outdoor playis encouraged year round and daily.Opportunities to experience nature every day and to care for and interact with the natural world enhance children’s connections to the world around them. Your children are always supervised and this allows us to observe their social interactions, see what activities interest them, and note when they appear to be the most challenged or engaged. We in turn use these observations as opportunities to join them in play, foster their exploration, support their self-initiated activity, expand learning, and mediate their peer interactions as needed.
We understand that when your child is actively engaged in an activity of their own choosing they are calm, attentive and happy. Therefore it is your child’s interests and expressions that guide us as co-learners with your children to uncover what is important to them so that we can plan for and provide opportunities in various environments for their first hand investigation of materials, objects, and phenomena that allow your child to stay engaged as they follow their natural curiosity to its conclusion.
We also recognize that all children have the capacity to express themselves effectively verbally and non-verbally in their actions and interactions with their family, peers, and educators. By responding to your child’s verbal and non-verbal cues we share in their experience of the world and we act to reduce stressors, modulate responses, provide language, and model communication strategies that are consistent with the abilities of your child.
Here at NHCS we know that all children progress at their own pace and by joining your child where they are at, we are establishing a way of interacting with your child that works for all children including the child with special needs. Through daily routines and activities that include a variety of materials that are accessible to all children we invite each child to engage with each other to create an environment of inclusion that allows each child to have meaningful interactions in their world and contribute to their growth and development and emerging sense of self with each other. “Viewing children as active participants in their own development allows educators to move beyond preconceived expectations of what a child should be learning, and focus on what they are learning” (CMEC, 2012).
We create linkages between ourselves, your children and family, educators and resource personnel, and the community through our participation in programs, events, and information sharing nights both on and off site, and you will have the opportunity to interact and communicate with people from local agencies and businesses in our community with whom we have formed reciprocal relationships and who are visible in various ways in the programs we offer. Information regarding our programs and the resources in our community is always accessible via your child’s educator, the family resource personnel in both our on and off site programs, cubby leaflets, bulletin boards, the information centre on the premises, and our website.
Pedagogical documentation is an approach being implemented throughout our programs here at NHCS as part of our continued commitment to support professional learning through engagement, communication, and reflection from our program staff and encourage interaction between ourselves and you who access our services. “Pedagogical documentation is about more than recording events - it is a means to learning about how children think and learn” (HDLH, p.21) during the course of their experiences in everyday moments, and share this learning with other learners be they the child, parent, or educator, using examination and interpretation together. For us it is a departure from the world of ‘make and take’, memorization without understanding (rote learning), and describing an occasion as “(blank) had fun in the park today”, to capturing your child’s daily experiences using various formats so we can recognize, value, reflect on and find meaning in what your child does and what they experience. In short it is a way of listening to children. We anticipate that we will learn and grow together as we embark on this process of new learning and application and enact this means of communication about, for and with your children. North Hastings Children’s Services will take an active approach to support educators in their practice with continuous professional learning opportunities including Orientation, Resource Supplies and Qualification Upgrading.
We acknowledge that the goals and approaches for North Hastings Children’s Services articulated in this Program Statement are consistent with the Ministry of Education’s Ministers Policy Statement issued on June 8, 2015 on Programming and Pedagogy naming “How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years (2014)”, and is responsive to the needs of the children we care for, their parents, our educators and resource personnel, and the needs of our community as articulated by the Board, and our community partners. Further, How Does Learning Happen? (HDLH) is a professional learning resource for educators and administrators in early years settings intended to guide program development, pedagogy and practice. Parents can access a copy of this resource through this https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-does-learning-happen-ontarios-pedagogy-early-years or from the educators and resource personnel at North Hastings Children’s Services.