Program Statement

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The Clinton Co-operative Childcare Centre provides quality childcare for children from birth to twelve years within a nurturing and welcoming environment. At Clinton Co-operative Childcare Centre, we are inspired by the framework of “How Does Learning Happen: Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years” and view each child as competent, capable, curious, and rich in potential.

 

We foster the health, safety, nutrition, and well-being of all children. The children are provided healthy and nutritious meals and snacks, following Canada’s Food Guide and recommendations from licensed dieticians to ensure children’s nutritional needs are met and menus are planned accordingly. Educators create positive eating environments by modeling language related to food, drink and eating and are responsive to the child’s individual needs. To support the safety of all children, Educators ensure that all equipment and materials are in good repair, and Health and Safety Inspections are completed monthly. All Educators are certified and current in Standard First Aid, CPR and AED training, WHMIS and Safe Food Handling. In keeping children safe while they play and learn, Educators complete visual and emotional checks for each child upon arrival and communicate daily with parents and caregivers to ensure the health of the children.

 

We support positive and responsive interactions among the children, families, and Educators by creating a supportive and inclusive environment. By prioritizing meaningful interactions and actively listening, our Educators build nurturing relationships and secure attachments with each of the children and families. We value the foundations of the Circle of Security model and understand the importance of “being with” and connecting with each of the children and their families. We encourage families to share their experiences of their personal lives, children’s interests, and day to day happenings to strengthen the bond between home and childcare and enrich the learning environment.

 

We encourage the children to interact and communicate in a positive way and support their ability to self-regulate. Our Educators model positive behaviors by showing children how to express themselves calmly and respectfully, how to listen actively to others, and they provide guidance for children in social interactions. We help children understand their own feelings and the feelings of others by validating feelings and encouraging children to consider how our words and actions might make others feel. We create a safe and supportive environment where children feel comfortable expressing themselves and we help children develop problem-solving skills. We allow children to embrace mistakes as opportunities for learning and growth.

 

We foster children’s exploration, play and inquiry by providing open-ended learning experiences and unstructured play and exploration. We allow children to explore by offering a variety of open-ended materials that offer limitless possibilities. We foster a sense of wonder and curiosity by asking open-ended questions and providing opportunities for hands-on exploration. We support risk-taking and engage with children as co-explorers allowing children to explore on their own and make their own choices and discoveries.

 

We provide child-initiated and adult-supported experiences regularly.  Our Educators observe and build on children’s interests by engaging with the children and focusing on the inquisitiveness shown by the children. We allow children to take the lead in their learning experiences and allow children to explore on their own and make their own discoveries. As Educators, we follow their lead by expanding on their ideas and supporting their learning. We support the individual needs of the children and are flexible in our programming to allow children to make their own decisions on how they want to explore.

 

We plan for and create positive learning environments and experiences in which each child’s learning and development is supported and which are inclusive of all children, including those with individualized plans. Our Educators are knowledgeable in child development and offer unstructured and spontaneous opportunities for play and exploration in a rich and diverse environment. We believe children learn through play and offer open-ended materials to enhance their learning. We observe each child’s needs and abilities and create learning environments that are inclusive to all children by supporting them developmentally and cognitively.

 

We value the importance of both indoor and outdoor play, as well as active play, rest, and quiet time. Our Educators understand that outdoor play is beneficial for children’s physical, mental and social well-being. The children explore outdoors with open-ended activities including loose parts and natural items from the natural environment. Exploring in the outdoor environment allows children to engage all their senses and connect with the natural world across different seasonal environments. We emphasize the importance of both the indoor and outdoor environments as learning spaces. It means by bringing aspects of the indoor environment outdoors and bringing elements of the outdoor environment indoors, children continue exploring and learning in an environment where they are comfortable exploring. To balance active play and rest and quiet time, all children are provided time to rest or engage in quiet activities. In a quiet room with soothing music, the infants rest according to their own individual sleep schedules and needs. The toddler and preschool programs provide a rest or quiet time after lunch dependent on the individual needs of the child. The Educators perform visual and physical checks to ensure the health and safety of the children.

 

We at Clinton Co-operative Childcare Centre foster the engagement of and ongoing communication with parents about the program and their children, by creating a welcoming environment and secure relationships with each of our families. Our Educators greet each child and their families daily and have a conversation about the child’s evening and morning, and any changes in the child’s daily routine. Through the implementation of Lillio, our Educators communicate with our families and share daily happenings of the child’s day, including photos, and meaningful documentation pieces. As a means of communication, families can comment to the Educators about the photos, ask questions about the child’s day, or any wonderings about their child. Each month our Educators create monthly newsletters that are shared with our families through Lillio. We use social media and regular emails to communicate children’s schedules, share happenings at the childcare center and share fundraising opportunities. Each Spring, we host our Annual General Meeting which includes a meal and entertainment for all families from each of our locations to come together and socialize.

 

 

We involve local community partners, and allow those partners to support the children, their families, and Educators, through being involved in community events.  We believe in the importance of building relationships between children, families, our Educators, our Board of Directors, and community members. Children are an integral part of the community and therefore it is important that community partners be involved in the center. We create partnerships through field trips and walking excursions, donations from the community, fundraising events, and volunteer opportunities. We welcome community partners to visit the centre and share their knowledge and resources with the Educators and children. We collaborate with local secondary schools and post-secondary schools to provide co-operative education and placement opportunities for students pursuing a career in Early Childhood Education. Through space sharing with local elementary schools, our school age programs effectively operate in the school setting to provide a smooth transition from early childhood to school. The Clinton Co-operative Childcare Centre has a close partnership with the County of Huron, Huron Perth Public Health, our Resource Consultant, and other professional therapists to provide support to the center and our families.

 

All Educators participate in continuous professional learning.  We respect and value each of our Educators as professionals. We provide learning opportunities and support Educators through professional development opportunities while attending training and courses both within and outside of the County. Through actively participating in workshops and conferences, reflective practice, and collaborative inquiry our Educators enhance their knowledge, skills, and effectiveness in supporting the learning and development of young children. Our Early Childhood Educators are registered and in good standing with the College of Early Childhood Educators and participate in Continuous Professional Learning as required by the College of Early Childhood Educators.  

 

Through both formal and informal observation, we monitor the impact of our Program Statement on the children and their families.  Regular documentation is completed and displayed in each program space.

At Clinton Co-operative Childcare Centre, we strive to create an optimal atmosphere for children and their families by practicing the guidelines of the “How Does Learning Happen?” document. Our Educators create a safe and welcoming atmosphere for all children and their families to feel a sense of belonging, well-being, engagement, and expression. Through inquiry, communication, child-led exploration, we discover the diverse interests of each child, and guide them to learn life skills. Our Educators create documentation pieces for each child, and if possible, include skills described in the Ontario Early Learning Framework – Early Learning for Every Child Today (ELECT) document. We display documentation, children’s artwork, photographs, and create documentation portfolios for each child. Our program statement is reviewed annually by all Educators at Clinton Co-operative Childcare Centre. It is also reviewed annually to ensure it remains aligned with the Ministry’s policy statement and reflects our current practices.

 

Developed May 2016

Reviewed 2017-2018

Revised September 2019

Revised May 2024