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Fort Langley Learning Centre often has inquiries from families seeking clarification on the difference between a full-day learning center and half-day preschool programs. So we thought we would take this opportunity to explain the difference.
Sadly, historically, full day learning programs (daycares) have often been viewed as babysitting, while preschool programs were viewed as providing kindergarten readiness. The reality is that children who go to full day learning programs and children who go to preschool have similar needs and interests and need similar programming.
In British Columbia, childcare programs, whether full-day learning centre, or half-day preschool, are licensed under the Ministry of Health Community Care Facilities Child Care Licensing Branch, and must meet rigid standards for health, safety, and programming. Our staff actively participate in ongoing training in current theory and research each and every year.
Parents seeking childcare should choose full or half-day programs according to their own needs.
Our teachers are Early Childhood Educators who are trained at the same institutions (with the exception of Montessori and Waldorf) as preschool teachers and we are all qualified by the same MCFD Early Childhood Educator registry.
We believe preschool and full day learning centres in principle are not fundamentally different. The only real difference between the two settings is that preschool children arrive all at once and stay for only 2 ½ hours, while children arrive at full day learning centres according to their parents' work schedules. Qualifications of the staff are the same in both programs.
Our full day learning program offer experiences in dramatic (pretend) play, early literacy, art, emergent numeracy, outdoor play, science, games and music. We support the development of self-help skills and the awareness of one's place in a socio-cultural context. Equal value is given to the areas of social, emotional, cognitive, physical and creative development. We offer a balanced curriculum with opportunities for small and large group activities, active and quiet play, structured and unstructured times and individual experiences as well as peer interactions.
We advocate our professionalism as educated childcare professionals, who teach the children invaluable skills each day. We do not want to be seen as babysitters or playmates. Rather, we are educators who enjoy interacting and learning alongside your children. Since we are a full day childcare program, our parents drop off and pick up at all different times. It is hard for families to see their children during the learning times since most families drop off and pick up during free play due to their work hours. We recognize it is unfortunate that families do not get to see their kids in action therefore all our staff spend many hours taking photographs and posting them around the program to show all the great learning that is happening at FLLC.
Our staff take pride in and share the responsibility of marketing our childcare program as a high quality full day Early Childhood learning program. The goal of the entire childcare community is to plan activities that are safe, developmentally appropriate and promote a variety of skills. Our Early Childhood Educators have risen to this challenge and we are proud of our dedication, professionalism and insight into the needs of young children.
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