The Humber Child Development Centre is a unique laboratory school, connected to Humber College’s Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness. We are constantly evolving to bring a high quality program to our Centre that reflects the current teaching and learning of the Early Childhood Diploma and Inclusive Resource Practice - Child and Family programs at Humber College. Our observation areas provide opportunities for faculty, students and families to quietly observe children without impeding the children’s day. We welcome many student-educators to our Centre to complete their practicums. Practicums offer student-educators opportunities to gain experience and fully participate in a high quality, responsive and inclusive setting. Additionally, we have many opportunities for one-on-one interaction through the support of our work study and ratio staff.

Our program puts emphasis on the value of outdoor exploration and play as an extension of the indoor program. This engages body, mind and senses for mental health and holistic wellness for children, families and staff. We have a strong commitment to providing children with multiple ways to participate and experience the natural surroundings. This is through our onsite natural playground, weekly class walks to a variety of areas within the Humber Arboretum/Adobigok (Place of the Alders Ojibway) and our Forest Nature Program. All of these experiences naturally foster a broad range of opportunities that encourage exploration, relationship building with the natural environment and each other, establishing a deeper sense of belonging and well-being. These natural environments are safe and provide ample opportunities for increased physical activity with reasonable risk-taking opportunities for well-rounded development.

Our goals aim to take a holistic approach to supporting the four foundations for learning laid out in the Ministry’s ‘How Does Learning Happen?’ document. These foundations support the child’s emotional, social, physical and cognitive development as a whole.

Our intention is to:

• promote a strong sense of belonging
• create responsive-inclusive nurturing environment for a healthy well-being
• roster learning through play and inquiry as well as engagement with the natural world
• encourage positive relationships and expressive, respectful communication
• plan for, and co-create, positive experiences, where each child’s development and needs are support to the fullest

We support the children’s health and well-being in a variety of ways. This includes fresh, wholesome in-house meals prepared daily by our cook. They include a morning snack, a hot lunch and afternoon snack in accordance with Canada’s Food guide and reviewed yearly by a registered dietician and nutritionist.

Ongoing communication with our families is very important to us as it helps us to better support the children’s individual needs. Written daily records, verbal conversations, and individual portfolios highlight children’s development and accomplishments. Pedagogical documentation allows educators to reflect and understand children’s thinking, further promoting the reflective practice of our program and the development of educators.

Positive learning spaces are created throughout the room setup, while spontaneous and planned experiences utilize the environment as the third teacher. These spaces help to create a balance between child-initiated and adult-supported experiences. These include areas such as dramatic play, science and nature, sensory and creative art, gross motor movement, book areas, and small and large group experiences. Effective learning through play is achieved through observation, inquiry, and intentional and reflective programming, with the children taking an active role in this process.

Children have opportunities to engage with nature both indoors and outdoors. Richard Louv (2008) writes of the growing research about the importance of natural environments for children’s mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health (HDLH, p.21). A minimum of two hours is spent outside each day with a combination of free play and thoughtfully planned experiences.

Active and quiet experiences are part of the rhythm and routine of the day. Children are given time to sleep, rest and/or engage in active and quiet activities during the day, based on their individual developmental needs. We see our environment as the third teacher and as the Ministry’s Think, Feel, Act document states, “we are supporting children’s growing autonomy and independence, allowing opportunities for positive self-regulation and building resilience” (2013, p.21)

We encourage children to express their feelings and support them in developing self-regulatory skills in a positive way. At the College of Early Childhood Educators writes in their practice guidelines, “We need to view responsive relationships as paramount, understanding that supporting children’s internal capacity to self-regulate and engage in positive interactions is the goal. As co-learners, collaborators, keen observers and intentional communicators, registered early childhood educators (RECEs) support positive interactions with children rather than manage or direct behavior” (2016, p.1). Our staff is trained to utilize positive redirection strategies that encourage the children to reflect on their behaviour in a manner that does not degrade them. This is accomplished through a variety of redirection opportunities based on the situation and the individual needs of the child.

“Children are competent, capable of complex thinking, curious and rich in potential” (HDLH, 2014, p.4).

We are dedicated to providing opportunities for children, regardless of their age, ability, culture, language, geography or setting, with integrated opportunities for growth, learning, health and well-being (HDLH, 2014, p.7). This can be found in all aspects of our program including policies and procedures, the environment, planned experiences and interactions. All of these aspects of our program are organized around the Ministry of Education’s four foundations that are: well-being, belonging, engagement and expression, and are important for children to grow and flourish (HDLH, 2014, p.7; 13). “We view the children as competent and equal contributors to the Centre’s community and learning environment, with the unique perspectives, attitudes, approaches, dispositions, strength and needs, spirit and character” (HDLH, P.18). This is supported with valuable input from the children and families as well as the involvement of the children in the process of planning, supporting them to be full participants of the program.

As the Ministry document ‘How Does Learning Happen?’ highlights, “during the first years of life, the brain develops at an astonishing rate and is not just a process of genetics…but is dramatically influenced by our early experiences with people and our surroundings” (2014, p.4). We know that children develop through environments where adults provoke learning through their intentional and meaningful interactions, and also know when to step back and let the children lead. We value the fact that children are influenced by multiple factors such as the family, social and cultural contexts in which they live and play, as well as their own unique perspectives and their life experiences (HDLH, p.17-18). It is of the utmost importance to consider children’s mental health and well-being for a practice that supports resiliency and focuses on children’s strengths to support mastery in other areas of development.

We value our families and view them as a child’s first teacher. The role of our Centre is to support families through their child’s journey through early childhood. We recognize the importance of our partnerships with our families and seek to establish and maintain open communication and responsive, inclusive relationships between parents and staff. This is fostered through daily conversations, collaboration, involvement, newsletters, documentation, events, and interactions. Families are welcome to visit and observe their children at any time throughout the day. We encourage families to participate in all aspects of our program. This includes outings and events. We welcome parent feedback and collaboration through our Parent Council and ongoing communication.

All of our full-time staff are registered with the College of Early Childhood Educators, a governing body that serves as a guide and sets standards for the professional practice and ethical conduct in the field of early childhood in Ontario. This is to ensure safe, healthy, supportive environments and developmentally appropriate care that involves caring and nurturing relationships that support learning (Code of Ethics, p.9).

We view adults/educators as “competent and capable, curious and rich in experience” (HDLH, 2014). They are knowledgeable, caring, reflective and resourceful professionals. With this they bring diverse social, cultural and linguistic perspectives, collaborating with others to create engaging environments and experiences that foster children’s learning and development (HDLH, p.7). Our educators participate in professional development opportunities and view themselves as lifelong learners.

Collaboration and community partnerships are key to us being able to enrich and grown in our practice for the whole community. Children are able to develop a greater sense of belonging and connectedness to the world around them. We strive to involve many local community partners as a means to support children, their families and staff. Some of our partnerships include:

• Every Child Belongs: a collaboration of resourcing agencies with Toronto Children’s Services, to ensure the inclusion of all children who need extra support and early intervention. Out onsite Resource Consultants provide enhanced services to children, families, staff and child care providers.
• The Centre participates in many events and experiences of Humber College, our active partner in supporting the children, families and staff. Some events include: visits to the library; Pow Wow, Zumba, Remembrance Day ceremony, fitness classes, and interacting with culinary, firefighter and nursing students.
• Visits from extended family members and college students, staff and faculty.
• Workshops provided for families and student educators to advocate and support children’s physical and mental well-being

Consistent with How Does Learning Happen (2014), we strive to document children’s learning and experiences in a variety of ways. Documentation helps us to make learning visible as well as to make note and keep records of the impact and effectiveness of strategies for children and their families. Through reflective practice, the teachers are constantly reviewing the quality and effectiveness of the strategies that we use.

Pedagogical documentation is the process we use to study, interpret, make visible and meaning of children’s learning and development as they build on experiences over time. We use pedagogical documentation as a process for educators to co-plan with children and families throughout the day. It is a way to help make children’s learning and understand of the world around them visible for themselves and their families and reflect upon their growth over time. Through documentation, we value children’s learning and include their perspectives.

“When educators engage in continuous learning and questioning, exploring new ideas and adjusting practices, they achieve the best outcomes for children, families and themselves (Intro to HDLH, 2014, p.11).

As educators, we believe that we all learn from each other and that our experiences shape who we are. Although formal professional learning is vital, we also know that the most meaningful professional growth often happens through day-to-day interactions. We seek to actively construct, challenge and expand our own understandings. Adults and children learn from each other to become self-reflective individuals who share their strengths and capabilities.

City Wide Training, in collaboration with Every Child Belongs, offers the opportunity for staff and others to present workshops in the community. Also, one can attend seminars presented by other professionals on a variety of topics related to the field of Early Childhood. In this way, staff may make a commitment to continuous professional learning. The College of Early Childhood Educators requires Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) to engage in this ongoing process of learning in order to stay current and further develop their skills.

Our program statement is a living document and is reviewed at least annually by our team. At HCDC we believe that “by involving ourselves in a constant inquiry into what we believe… we will be on a journey of getting to be better and better as teachers all the time” (Callaghan – as cited in HDLH, p.13). Critical reflections, learning and growth are important to our staff to provide a high quality program.

We strive to continuously improve to create meaningful contexts for the children, their families and the community as a whole. As educators, we engage with one another in critical reflection as a means to question theory, practice, discuss ideas, share learning and engage in collaborative inquiry. It is through this process that we honour the openness and flexibility of the staff. This takes place at our staff meetings and team meetings, as well as brainstorming opportunities throughout the year.

It is our hope that this has provided you with a snapshot of the Humber Child Development Centre and our dedication and desire to continuously grow our practice authentically. Our main objectives are to provide quality child care and offer support to families. All children and families deserve to have access to a responsive-inclusive environment that focuses on the strength and capabilities of all to support children’s growth and development. Additional in-depth information can be found in our Parent Handbook, which outlines all of our policies and procedures in detail.

A FULL COPY OF OUR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES IS AVAILABLE ON THE PARENT BOARD (REVISED Mar. 05 2018) LOCATED IN THE ATRIUM OF THE FX BUILDING.