We believe every child should be recognized as an individual and learn to be independent and confident in their abilities and feelings. Our objective is to provide a safe, warm, stimulating, healthy environment that will promote physical, social and intellectual development. The children are encouraged to grow at their own pace through play.
We are committed to encourage children to develop self-esteem and respect not only for themselves and their families, but for the community as a whole. We are a multicultural organization.
We believe children are competent, capable, curious, and rich in potential.
We set our goals with the following in mind:
- Ontario Early Years framework
- How Does Learning Happen
- Think, Feel, Act: Lessons from research about young children
Four Foundations of How Does Learning Happen:
- Every child has a sense of belonging when they are connected to others and contribute to their world
- Every child is developing sense of self, health, and well-being
- Every child is an active and engaged who explores the world with body, mind, and senses
- Every child is a capable communicator who expresses themselves in many ways
Health, Safety, Nutrition and Well-being of Children
The connection children make with the staff, students, volunteers, and peers is a first step in nurturing and establishing their health, safety and well-being.
We try our best to meet and exceed all health and safety requirements of the Ministry of Education and local government bylaws.
We follow Canada Food Guidelines, and the menu of weeks coming up is displayed in the preschool. We provide well-balanced fresh, nutritious meals, and snacks. At the table they are encouraged to serve themselves and to try new items. Lunch happens in a family setting; children and educators at The Little Rascals Preschool have friendly conversation throughout.
Every child is given individual attention during the day so they feel comfortable and special. Children are supervised throughout the day. They are encouraged to actively participate, explore, and develop their own interests.
Our goal is to provide a warm, safe and healthy environment. To ensure we are doing this, we use a daily safety and checklist.
Positive and Responsive Interactions
Our goal at The Little Rascals Preschool is to foster collaboration and build cooperative relationships among our partners through positive interaction. Parents and educators need to work together to meet maximum potential. We promote a sense of belonging for children and their families in our program.
We have an open door policy. We encourage parents to visit and share their ideas, family pictures, and familiar cultural tokens from home to show and share. We try our best to create a warm, inviting and inclusive environment. We interact with children at their level with warmth and positivity.
We introduce a vast variety of resources and opportunities to promote healthy and friendly relationships among each other through play.
- “Am I learning, too?”
- “Let’s find it together.”
- “Am I having fun?”
This kind of positive approach is used by our educators to help children benefit socially, emotionally, and physically.
Ability to Self-Regulate and Communicate in a Positive Way
Staff at The Little Rascals Preschool promote self regulation and encourage problem solving skills to help children find solutions themselves. This will promote self-confidence and reduce stress. Our educators always talk softly, stay calm and encouraging. They role model for children, and use strategies which encourage them to express their own emotions, ideas, feelings. This also helps children develop their listening skills, and learn how to be happy, less anxious, and self-regulate to face challenges and stress.
Free uninterrupted playtime and variety of choices and interest gives opportunity to communicate and interact with peers. Each child has equal rights to participate in our program.
Our educators use best practices to make children and parents feel that they are always there for them for support, listen and document the many ways in which they communicate or articulate their ideas (verbal or non-verbal).
Foster Children’s Exploration
Children learn best in active free play-based learning. Play is responsive to each child’s unique learning style and capitalizes on his or her innate curiosity and creativity. They learn best through role play, experimenting, and creating.
To promote their sense of curiosity and discovery we provide open-ended activities and play materials throughout the preschool. We also have introduced natural materials to manipulate and explore in various ways. Art activities are extended outdoors too. Staff play along with the children and help to use their own imagination to develop and be creative or curious, ask questions, and communicate with their peers.
Child-Initiated and Adult-Supported Experiences
Every day the staff at The Little Rascals Preschool greet children and families in a cheerful and happy way. The day is conducted in a friendly and familiar pattern so that each child is comfortable and at ease.
Activities are mostly child-initiated and open-ended. This allows the children to make choices and be creative. Educators let them get involved in the program and use their ideas to plan. They let them work on their own to develop independence and confidence. Materials are accessible, safe, comfortable, and sometimes familiar or natural.
Create: Positive Learning Environment and Experiences
Our main goal at The Little Rascals Preschool is to provide an environment that allows children to be happy, comfortable, and explore their surroundings and foster curiosity.
Activities are based on diversity and encourage cultural exploration. We do this through stories, books, music, walks in our community and different hands-on activities. Each child is an individual, and is not rushed into activity for which he or she is not ready for. Routines are conducted by guiding a small number of children from one activity to another. They complete their task at their own pace, so the child will feel satisfied at the end of the day.
The educator’s role and involvement in activities is to keep children safe and engaged. Each child is unique and has his or her own ideas. As the staff is actively involved, they are able to understand when a child needs space and opportunity to grow and learn at their own pace and time.
Rest, Quiet Time and Indoor and Outdoor Playtime
Periods of active and quiet play are interwoven throughout the day, indoor and outdoor. Our goal is to provide a stimulating, safe and healthy environment for children. Monitored by the educators at The Little Rascals Preschool at all times, toys are available outside for gross motor activities and indoor quiet time.
Every day children spend two hours outside for gross motor activities, weather permitted. In the winter, they bundle up in warm and dry clothes and head outside to make snowballs. They jump in puddles on a rainy day, or have water activities and make bubbles on a hot summer day. When we face bad weather conditions, active play takes place indoors so that children can still engage in physical play that their bodies require.
Each child also has two hours of rest every day. We provide cots and sheets with each child’s name on them. Children are welcome to bring blankets, a stuffie or a favourite book for nap-time. Children who are unable to sleep are allowed to read books quietly during this time. Staff will monitor to make sure they are safe and sit with them if they are stressed.
Engagement and Ongoing Communication with Parents
We consider parents as partners. Our goal is to support families in our community and give them affordable, safe, reliable, high quality childcare. We believe in building a powerful relationship by understanding their family structure, values, language(s) and culture.
We involve parents in various events and activities in our program. Respect, empathy, trust and honesty are our core values in all our interactions with families. The partnership will help meet each child’s needs, as families know them better. They are the first and most powerful influence on their learning and development.
Parents are welcome all the time; their input, ideas and response about our program and their child is always appreciated, especially when they are in transition from home to preschool. It makes the child more comfortable and secure.
Documentation is done and is always available for parents to read through about their child. Any updates or news is always shared through verbal communication, a newsletter or notices. We also keep parents informed through e-mail, social media, and our bulletin board at the preschool.
Communication between parents, staff and the supervisor happens on a daily basis.
Involvement of Local Community Partners
We are an active part of our community.
Children with our staff participate in walks around the community. They always observe and cheer the local parades or activities that take place in the neighbourhood, including Remembrance Day, Bread & Honey Festival, Santa Claus Parade.
Some local community partners come in to talk to our children, such as dental hygienists and firefighters.
Children often walk to the library and pick out books they’d like to read. Sometimes they are able to attend a storytelling session.
We get supplies from local stores.
Children are encouraged to attend local festivities, events and movie nights.
Students and volunteers from ECE programs come in for community hours and supervised placements.
Continuous Professional Development
Our educators are registered with College of Early Childhood Education.
All staff are respected, supported and treated fairly. They all have knowledge and values that they bring to the program at The Little Rascals Preschool. They are encouraged to attend professional meetings or workshops, and participate in continuous trainings and webinars.
Our educators attend workshops at Child Development Resource Connection Peel (CDRCP) and participate in the Raising the Bar (RTB) program, and share their learnings with the rest of the team. We keep track of all the training done by each staff member.
We have regular visits from Early Year Specialists and Peel Inclusion Resource Services consultants to help and provide feedback on our program.
Documentation
We recognize that pedagogical documentation (‘making thinking and learning visible’) is the approach to take with our program, and for staff to learn how children think, act, and learn.
Educators are co-learners and co-partners. They provide a visual in the form of pictures, social media, kids work display or documenting about each child, which enables parents to review development of their child at the preschool.
It provides a tool to enable educators to reflect on the impact of their activities and strategies. Our staff documents strategies used for each child and the impact it’s had. All issues are addressed through professional education. This is a means of communication with parents. This also shows a reflection of each child’s interests and needs.
We also use this way of communication between the staff, supporting each other and explaining what each child’s needs are, and builds encouragement to share ideas.
Documentation is also used for monitoring and supporting any health issues, serious occurrence reports, menu planning, general updates and more regarding the children and parents.
Program Statement Implementation Policy
Our program statement and all other policies are reviewed by all staff members, students, volunteers before they begin their job, placement, or interaction with children at The Little Rascals Preschool. It is an active working document, reviewed and updated annually.
This program statement follows guidelines from the Early Years Portal, How Does Learning Happen, and Think, Feel, Act. It describes goals for children’s learning and development, and approaches that are implemented to meet them.
We are committed to support children grow to their fullest potential in a safe, caring and nurturing environment.
Each staff member, student and volunteer is required to sign after reviewing the program statement and all other policies. Records are kept with the date that each review was conducted.
Staff at The Little Rascals Preschool are monitored on an ongoing basis. They are provided coaching and guidance in reflective practice and collaborative inquiry through documentation and regular staff meetings. We follow guidelines given by Ministry of Education, parents, PIRS consultants and Early Years Specialists’ to ensure all our approaches are in compliance with our program statement.
It is our commitment to provide continuous improvement to the programming at The Little Rascals Preschool.
The following practices are prohibited and will not be tolerated:
- Corporal punishment of a child
- Deliberate use of harsh or degradation measures on a child that would humiliate him or her or undermine their self-respect or confidence
- Depriving a child of basic needs including food, shelter, clothing or bedding
- Locking any rooms, exits or structure of the Preschool for the purpose of confining a child
- Any form of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional, or neglect
Children thrive in an environment that is warm, encouraging, and full of positive interactions with those around them. Negative or punitive approaches to manage unwanted behaviour are not permitted.
Contravention
We use different positive measures to deal with contravention in order to assist our staff, students and volunteers to understand the requirements have not been met and will give them opportunities to improve their abilities.
Through more coaching and guidance we ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities. Any reports, verbal or through documentation, involving continuous breach of the above prohibited practices will be taken seriously. Individuals who violate are subject to disciplinary or corrective action, and can be given a warning or termination of employment, student assignment or volunteer placement.