120 new child care spaces coming to York this fall

YorkRegion.com
June 25, 2014
Chris Traber

York Region will benefit from 120 new licenced child care spaces by September 2014, the YMCA of Greater Toronto announced today.

The charity is expanding its licenced child care spaces to about 20,000 in more than 280 locations in six regions. In addition to 30 toddler and 90 extended before and after-school spaces in York, additional spaces will be allocated in Dufferin, Durham, Halton, Toronto and Peel.

New programs and services will be introduced to meet the diverse needs of children up to 12, including before and after-school programs, preschool, and infant and toddler care, YMCA child and family development senior vice-president Linda Cottes said.

The timely expansion meets an urgent need for parents seeking child care placements or quality full-day learning experiences before the fall 2014 school year begins, she added.

June is an important time for parents to arrange child care for their kids in the fall, Cottes said.

With the Ontario government’s introduction of full-day kindergarten in 2010, children who would have traditionally been enrolled in care programs are now entering the school system. Meanwhile, many child care service providers had to re-apply for new licences and make adjustments to convert the rooms vacated by school age children to accommodate younger ones. This significantly impacted the child care space shortage in the Greater Toronto Area.

As a charitable service provider focused on building strong connections with the community, the YMCA is proactively converting spaces freed up by full-day kindergarten to help ease the infant and toddler space pressure parents face.

Since 2010, the YMCA has almost doubled its child care programs and increased its kindergarten-aged spaces by 661 per cent.

 “The YMCA fully embraces the full day kindergarten vision because we know early learning is one of the best investments for developing young children,” Cottes said. “However, the current Day Nurseries Act, introduced in 1946, is outdated and the full-day kindergarten implementation has just highlighted the need to modernize the current act.”

The child care programs use the YMCA Playing to Learn Curriculum that has been used at YMCA child care centres for a decade, to ensure a seamless transition to the full-day learning program.  Now recognized as a leading curriculum in the industry, all services are supervised by certified early childhood educators.

SIDEBAR

WHAT'S NEW?

The YMCA has 40 existing locations in York Region and will add 13 new locations:

Before and after school programs

Alexander Muir, 75 Ford Wilson Blvd, Newmarket

Dr.Roberta Bondar, 401 Grand Trunk Ave, Vaughan

Oscar Peterson, 850 Hoover Park Dr. Stouffville

Kettle Lakes, 62 Kingshill Rd, Richmond Hill

Kleinburg, 10391 Islington Ave, Kleinburg

Legacy, 61 Russell Jarvis Dr. Markham

Parkview, 22 Fonthill Blvd. Unionville

Stonebridge, 168 Stonebridge Dr. Markham

St.Annes, 105 Don Head Village Blvd. Richmond Hill

Greensborough, 80 Alfred Patterson Dr. Markham L6E 1J5

Toddler Programs

Alexander Muir, 75 Ford Wilson Blvd Newmarket

Kettle Lakes, 62 Kingshill Rd, Richmond Hill

Child Care  Programs

Vaughan City Hall, 2141 Major Mackenzie Dr. Vaughan

Parents  interested in learning more about the YMCA’s child care services can call 1-866-317-6251 or visit ymcagta.org/childcare