Program Statement
Welcome to We B Kidz program statement. Our Program statement describes our views of the children, families, and educators. We B Kidz program statement is consistent with the Minister’s policy statement on programming and pedagogy referred to in How Does Learning Happen? As we continue to explore the curriculum, we refer to the following Ministry documents for guidance:
- How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's Pedagogy for Early Years
- Ontario Early Years Framework
- Think Feel Act: Lessons from Research about Young Children
- Early Learning for Every Child Today
Our View of Children
At We B Kidz, every child is a unique person with his/her own interests, abilities, individual needs. We believe every child deserves to feel belong, understood, and respected within our programs. Our educators support each child based on their unique interest, abilities and needs to grow and develop at their own pace and to reach their full potential. We view children as competent and capable individuals who can have complex thinking. We consider children to be curious and rich in potentials. We value children’s curiosity and sense of wonder and know that children learn valuable skills through play.
We B Kidz Goals and Approaches for Children
Health, safety, nutrition, and well-being
We believe that food and nutrition are essential to a child’s development. We provide healthy, nutritious meals daily, including breakfast, lunch, and two afternoon snacks. All meals are home-made and prepared from scratch in our centre’s kitchen, following Health Canada’s Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide to ensure balanced nutrition.
The safety and well-being of children is our highest priority. We maintain safe indoor and outdoor environments by actively identifying, assessing, and addressing hazards that could pose imminent risk of harm. Staff are required to regularly inspect learning and play environments and to immediately eliminate, remove, or restrict access to any hazard identified, including poisonous or hazardous substances, unsecured furniture, trip hazards, and any condition that may lead to injury or falls.
All high-risk hazards will be documented, and parents/guardians will be notified without delay, along with information outlining the actions being taken to reduce or eliminate the risk.
All chemical materials, including cleaning and sanitizing products, are stored securely and kept at all times out of reach and inaccessible to children. The use of chemical or potentially hazardous materials (such as hand sanitizer, shaving foam, or similar substances) for play or sensory activities is strictly prohibited.
We promote health and hygiene by following York Region Public Health guidelines, including regular handwashing and sanitizing practices, Illness and outbreak policies to reduce the spread of illness and disease.
For security, the centre remains locked at all times. Only authorized We B Kidz staff have access via key fob entry. Visitors may only enter with approval from designated staff or management. Surveillance cameras in entrances, corridors, and classrooms support ongoing supervision and help ensure the safety and well-being of all children.
Our programing maintains a balance between active play, quiet play, and rest all promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being. We B Kidz creates flexible schedules that provide a level of predictable routine, while responding to individual needs. Rest time: We B Kidz understands that effective sleep and rest routines are essential in ensuring the development, growth, social and emotional well-being of each child in our care. We will ensure that all children have appropriate opportunities to sleep rest and relax in accordance with their individual needs
Outdoor Play: Outdoor play is an integral part of the day schedule at We B Kidz and plays an important role in the development of children’s overall well-being. At We B Kidz we are aiming to provide safe, fun outdoor space for children where they can engage in various physical activities. In addition to providing physical benefits, outdoors play strengthens functioning in cognitive areas such as perception, attention, creative problem solving, and complex thinking
Indoor Play: Small group activities which offer choices and giving options to children are being offered to children throughout the day. We are responsive to individual needs and interests of children. The small group activities increase children’s engagement.
Loving, positive and responsive relationships with adults are fundamental to children’s development. We B Kidz educators build strong relationship with children by being responsive, sensitive and available for children at all the time. When children feel safe and secure, in their relationship with the educators, they are more likely to have the confidence to explore and learn new skills. To support children’s care, growth and development, our educators interact and communicate with parents on daily basis sharing observations, documentations, and reflections.
Interactions and communications in the early years create the foundation for a child’s future social skills. In our commitment in supporting children’s social and emotional skills, we use following approaches in our classrooms
- Educators role model respectful, and collaborative interactions with children and other adults
- Educators engage in play with children so they can demonstrate social skills including promoting discussion, problem solving when conflict arises, and collaboration
- The educators set up small group activities that promote educational choices for the children and provide the opportunity for the teachers to spend more time with each child. The small group activities also promote engagement of children, positive communication among children and self-regulation. Our educators allow children to be heard and teach them how to learn to listen to their peers in these group settings.
Fostering exploration, play & inquiry:
As educators of young children, we acknowledge that play is a right of each child. Play is one of the most important ways in which young children gain essential knowledge and skills. For this reason, play opportunities and environments that promote play, exploration and hands on learning are at the core of our program. Our educators plan, participate, collaborate and document children progress in plays. Through play children can develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the confidence required to engage in new experiences and environments. We help children improve cognitive development in memory, concentration, attention, perception, imagination and creativity with setting up playing opportunities.
Our educators are responsible for providing experiences and activities that are child initiated and adult-supported every day. We B Kidz educators are consistently observing children throughout the day. They use play and conversations that happen during play to determine the children’s interests. They document children’s interest to plan activities in small groups. The small group activities promote educational choices for the children and provide the opportunity for children to engage in activities that they are interested in it, which increase their opportunities for learning.
These observation and documentation reflect in the toys and materials provided in the classrooms, the furniture arrangement, the creative work of children, the activities children are engaging in, on the planning documents posted for parents to read and discuss with the educators.
We B Kidz Educators:
The We B Kidz educators are knowledgeable, caring, reflective, and resourceful professionals. Our dedicated Early Childhood Educators are all registered through the College of Early Childhood Educators and adhere to a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. Our educators are trained in First Aid and CPR and are carefully selected and screened to provide a safe, secure, healthy and inviting environment for children. Using their diverse backgrounds, they collaborate with one another and the community partners in order to create engaging and educational environments for the children.
- Teachers at We B Kidz are required to participate in a minimum of two in-house professional development sessions annually and are encouraged to attend at least two external workshops or training sessions each year. Attendance and participation in staff meetings, professional development sessions, and mandatory training will be considered as part of the General Performance Review process.
We B Kidz Learning Environments:
We designed our classroom with great care. We see parents/guardians as the children’s first teacher, the We B Kidz educators as the second teacher and the environment as the third teacher for children. Our language-rich environment encourages children to communicate through their physical movement, words, and use of materials. Our classrooms are designed to maximize children’s learnings and foster children’s exploration, play and inquiry in five major areas:
- Reading
- Cognitive
- Block and Carpets
- Creative Arts
- Dramatic
Most importantly, we have organized the space and materials to create an environment where children can feel calm, comfortable and safe.
Involving Community Partners:
Involving community partners is an instrumental part of creating a positive and supportive environment. We engage in constructive relationships with community agencies; they provide resources, information, and classroom support to better meet the needs of our children, families, and educators. We work collaboratively with our local universities, community colleges, and high schools to offer opportunities for student training and experiences. Partnering with these institutions provides us with additional knowledge and resources to further support our program. We also welcome volunteers from the community as well.
Our View of Families
We B Kidz recognizes that families are experts on their children. They are the first and the most powerful influence on their children’s learning, development, health and well being.
We foster a collaborative partnership with parents, grounded on mutual respect for individual needs, structures, cultures, values, languages, and knowledge.
Integrating parent and family involvement meaningfully throughout our program is a cornerstone of our philosophy. We believe that children’s learning and development occur within a nurturing relationship among children, families, educators, and the environment.
To facilitate open communication and accessibility, We B Kidz adheres to an “open door policy.” Parents are welcome to visit the center at any time during the day. For security reasons, our entrance doors remain locked, and surveillance cameras are installed throughout the facility. Supervisor or one of We B Kidz staff must open the door for parents and visitors.
While parents are encouraged to observe their children’s activities or discuss their child’s progress with educators, we request that they adhere to our safety guidelines. Outdoor shoes are not permitted in classrooms, and parents must be accompanied by a We B Kidz staff member.
To keep parents informed and engaged, we provide daily reports for younger age groups. We encourage open communication during pickup or drop-off and invite families to contact classrooms at any time.
We are committed to addressing parent concerns promptly and effectively. Any suggestions or issues raised by families will be promptly reviewed by management to ensure timely resolution.
Evaluation of the Impact of strategies outlines in We B Kidz program statement on children and families
In order to evaluate the impact of strategies outlined We B Kidz Statement on children and families within our centres, supervisors and educators will engage in ongoing assessment and reflection of their programs. Regular review will include, but is not limited to:
- Parent feedback: We B Kidz welcomes parent’s feedbacks. Whether it is a compliment, complaint or a suggestion it is important to us, and can help us to provide a better service for children and families. Our management team will always be available to receive feedbacks through phone, emails, surveys, etc.
- Parents and educators meeting: We would like to set up meetings for parents as per their request to meet the educators to review their child/ren and classroom and plan of actions to be implemented.
- We B Kidz schedule regular meetings between supervisors and educators to discusses program statement, Implementation strategies, curriculum, Ministry of Education licensing, and quality assessments, and parent’s feedback with staff teams and develop a plan of action to be implemented