The Mattawa Child Care Centre Program Statement

Our philosophy at the Mattawa Child Care Centre is to provide and promote a responsive, a secure, and healthy and enriching learning environments for the children in our care. We strive to introduce children to new ideas, encourage them to expand their interest and provide opportunities to develop new skills. We value children as competent, capable and active contributors with interests and point of views of their own. Each are capable of complex thinking and are curious and able to reach their potential.

At the Mattawa Child Care Centre we accept all children and their families, and encourage them to share their at home experiences. We value each individual family, strive to engage them in our programs and provide communication to families in a meaningful way.

In August 2014, the Child Care and Early Years Act came into effect replacing the Day Nursery Act. One of the key factors of the Child Care Early Years Act (CCEYA) is to focus on strengthening Child Care Child Care Programs and ensuring high quality experiences for children. The CCEYA authorizes the Ministry of Education to issue policy statements about programming and the pedagogy for the purpose of guiding operators of Child Care Programs. The Mattawa Child Care Centre refers to the document “How does Learning Happen?” Ontario pedagogy for the Early Years (2014). This professional learning resource guide supports pedagogy (the understanding of how learning happens) and the curriculum/program development (The context of learning) in Early Year Centre/Child Care Centres.

“How does Learning Happen” is organized into four (4) foundations or “ways of being” that allow children to grow and flourish. These four foundations apply regardless of the age, ability, culture, language, geography or family setting. They are values that children naturally seek for themselves.

At the Mattawa Childcare Centre, We Strive to:

• To provide and promote a responsive, a secure, healthy and enriching learning environment for the children in our care
• Promote Health, Safety, Nutrition and Well-Being
• Support Positive and responsive care and interactions with the children
• Support and foster positive and responsive interactions and communication with parents
• Involve and encourage parent involvement in the Centre Communication
• Supporting the Needs, Health and Safety and the Well Being of the Children are the first and most important
• Provide developmentally appropriate activities to encourage social interactions and language development
• Promote a healthy and safe environment for children in which it fosters learning through exploration, play and inquiry
• Provide Child initiated/Adult supported activities
• Foster explorations of materials/toys, and play spaces both indoor and outdoor. Provide open ended materials and learning experiences
• Support creativity in learning/play experiences
• Encourage science exploration through real concrete materials/nature based play
• Classrooms/Program set-up/environments encourage independence
• Opportunities for self-help skills
• Responsive and secure relationships with children and their educators
• Consistency of staffing in the programs
• Positive meal times(social time) nutritious snacks and meals following the Canadian Food Guide
• Provide program schedules that is predictable, yet flexible to each individual child’s needs
• Plan for and create child-initiated and adult-supported experiences/play
• Incorporate outdoor(indoor during inclement weather) play providing a selection of various materials/equipment for outdoor play according to season/weather
• Provide opportunities for gross-motor development with activities that support physical release
• Encourage creative movement/musical experiences
• Encouraging mulit-culturalism in the programs. Providing activities and opportunities that involve diversity though books, music, videos, food, holidays, and real-life images.
• Involving, Encouraging and Supporting Community Partners in the Centre
• Supporting Educators in relations to continuous learning by providing up to date training and workshops in the field of Early Childhood Education
• Provide clearly defined limits
• Support Children’s Choices
• Positive, nurturing responsive
• Trusting relationships between Educators, Children and their Families
• Documentation/Review/Observations of children in the Programs. Providing Parent Teacher Conversation Night. Assisting in Referrals/Support for Children to ensure that Early Intervention is available to all children needing support.
• Follow Policies and Procedures set out by the Mattawa Child Care Centre, The Ministry of Education and the College of Early Childhood Educator to ensure that the best practice are met while caring for Children that are enrolled in our care
• Engage and support family choices about their child
• Recognize that each child is different in their own way and value them as individuals
• Encourage Children to express themselves through all forms of communication
• Communicate to children, families and all visitors in a warm and caring manner
• Recognizing and Understanding families Beliefs and Religions
• Encourage children with their self-help skills and recognizing their progress and efforts
• Promoting Good Health Practices such as hand washing, dental hygiene, proper nutrition and healthy eating habits
• We focus on children’s Social, Emotional, Physical, Creative and cognitive development in a holistic way
• Encourage Children, Families and Educators to interact and communicate in positive ways

At the Mattawa Child Care Centre we are dedicated to provide and safe healthy learning environment; with the focus on enriching children lives with meaningful learning experiences. We take every opportunity to nurture, support, foster, engage, promote, provide for, plan and create, incorporate, involve, document and review and each child and their family in our care. We strive to provide them with encouragement to reach developmental milestones and the four foundations or “ways of being” of each individual child giving them the best start in their personal life journeys.

Thank you for choosing the Mattawa Child Care Centre. We have an open door policy and are always available for feedback to ensure we are providing the best possible care.

The Four Foundations of "How Does Learning Happen?"