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 necessary to a child’s development. we provide healthy nutritious food every day by offering 4 separate meals (full breakfast, lunch and 2 afternoon snacks). All our food is home made and prepared from scratch in our centre’s kitchen. We follow Health Canada’s documents “Eating Well with Canada Food Guide” to ensure our children receive well-balanced meals during their care at the center.
Safety of children is our top priority. We design safe play environment inside the classrooms and in our playground that reduce hazards that may cause injury. We are also proactive in our attempts to eliminate illnesses and diseases, to the best of our abilities, by practicing and promoting proper hygiene for both our staff and children as well as frequent sanitizing practices that follow the York Public Health guidelines. Children’s safety and security is our top priority hence we provide registered key swipes, to only families and educators, that allow access into the center. The cameras in the corridors and exits allow the management team to supervise all visits. The cameras inside the classroom also allow the supervisors to ensure the health and safety of the children are being met at all the time.
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 committed to participating in a minimum of 4 sessions of in house and outside workshops and training sessions per year. This allows them to keep their knowledge updated and be able to bring new methods and ideas into the classroom. Supervisor provides staff with opportunities to attend all mandatory and supplemental training. Tracks all training completed by each staff. We hold quarterly meetings with all our educators in order to go over ideas, policies etc. We believe that our educators must feel happy, engaged and feel a sense of belonging to the center’s values and philosophy in order to provide qualified learning experiences for the children.
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, provided they notify the office beforehand. For security reasons, our entrance doors remain locked, and surveillance cameras are installed throughout the facility.
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