About the Co-operative
Philosophy
Our
mission at Campus Child Care Cooperative of Guelph is to provide a nurturing,
comfortable and inclusive environment where all children feel safe to explore
experiment and learn with a wide range of authentic learningexperiences. Our
inclusive environment welcomes the diverse abilities of each individual child
and meets the specific needs of the whole child. CCCCG also believes that the
staff, parents, and children play an integral part in developing a respectful
culturally diverse community.
As a cooperative centre, CCCCG greatly supports equal opportunities for all families and welcomes the diversity of each family and the individuality of each child who enters the Campus Child Care Co-operative of Guelph. We strongly believe that communication and teamwork between parents and teachers is an integral element for achieving a family oriented environment. We support a parent’s right to contribute to the process of their child’s development through our co-operative structure. Within our Centre, the governing body is a parent Board of Director, elected by and accountable to the entire parent body.
Our philosophy promotes child-initiated learning through active participation and play and also includes a “Best Practices” approach learning. Our programs are designed to meet the emotional, social, cognitive, physical, language and creative needs of the children. We respect parents as the primary and most important provider of care and nurturing and we believe parents and teachers are partners in children’s care and education. Our staff compliments the role of parents in a supportive and responsive manner. Each of our programs are staff with highly qualified Early Childhood Educators who take the child’s lead as they incorporate and facilitate activities related to the children’s interests.
Allowing for flexible, spontaneous activities that become the starting point for further exploration develops our curriculum. All our programs are situated in a stimulating and creative atmosphere that develops the children’s learning through active participation and play. Our educators enrich each child’s educational experience by providing and facilitating activities that incorporate a variety of learning styles such as visual, verbal, kinesthetic and musical intelligences. We strive to provide a supportive, energetic environment that encourages further growth in a child’s self-confidence, self-esteem and independence. Our educators encourage children to express their feelings through social interaction and cooperation with peers and adults.
As we welcome a broad range of abilities, we have access to specialized supports and resources from various external agencies such as Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Speech and Languages and our centre Resource Consultant. These professionals work collaboratively with the staff to suggest adaptations to our programming with the main goal of ensuring that each child is given the appropriate tools needed to participate to the best of their ability.
Within this framework, our primary objective at CCCCG is to provide a balanced, developmentally appropriate program which invites interest, stimulates creativity and satisfies the desire to explore and discover the world. With guidance, a sense of belonging and positive reinforcement, the children are given opportunities to discover new things. These essential components play an important role in creating an inviting environment in which the children can grow and expand their minds.