• What is a preschool vs. child care?  These two words are very carefully regulated by the Province of BC. Bright Beginnings is a preschool which provides care for children between the ages of 30 months & 5 years for no more than 4 hours in a single session and must have 1 teacher for every 10 children. On the other hand, there are many types of child care, which provide care all day to children of all ages, (including some that are just before and after school) and have different amounts of teachers depending on the age group they are caring for.  

• How is Bright Beginnings different? We are a fine art modeled preschool, which runs two sessions per day (8:45am-11:30am or 12:00pm-2:45pm). We use the arts to provide learning opportunities so that preschool aged children can learn social skills and ready themselves for formal learning in kindergarten. Every day our children have dance, music, art, & either drama or free play so that we can work on independence, social skills & coordination.

• Will my child be ready for kindergarten? Absolutely! There are no studies that demonstrate that a child having academic skills (letter recognition, writing, arithmetic) on entering kindergarten improves long term academic success. Our focus on ‘ready for kindergarten’ is based on what research shows us is truly necessary:

  • Your child knows their first and last name and can recognize it in print.

  • Your child can manage their own clothing, and knows how to button, buckle, zip and fasten.

  • Your child can open lunch or snack containers and feed themselves.

  • Your child can follow rules and instructions with little reminding; and ask for help if needed.

  • Your child can use words like please, thank you, and you’re welcome.

  • Your child understands and handles transitions between activities with little difficulty.

  • Your child tries to self-regulate and articulate their feelings in words.

  • Your child can play cooperatively with others.

  • Your child can wait their turn, share, and has mastered not ‘snatching’ items

  • Your child can identify how objects are the same and different.

  • Your child will sit and listen quietly to a story, following the plotline.

  • Your child will look at the pictures in a book independently.

  • Your child can explain what happens to a character and how they might feel.

  • Your child can draw pictures to tell a story.

  • Your child can recognize and name basic shapes.

  • Your child is starting to notice patterns in their everyday environment.

• Do we have space? Yes, we currently have very limited spaces (1-3 days) in our morning sessions and full availability in our afternoons. This changes on a regular basis so please contact us to check in. 

• How many children will be with our child? We can enroll a maximum of 20 children, which must have two teachers. For some activities your child will be with their full class but generally your child will be in a much smaller, age & developmentally appropriate group of no more than 10 children. 

• What types of activities do our children participate in? All of our children do daily yoga, dance & movement which focuses on gross motor skills, art to work on fine motor skills, music & singing for creativity, listening skills, & story telling; plus we do stories & pretend play to work through feelings and self-regulation.

 

A note about apps: our belief is that our time is best spent engaging with your child in activities and being fully present while teaching them. We may take occasional photos, which will be shared with parents, but we do not provide updates via any apps.