New daycare center welcomes 49 toddlers
Marni Flaherty felt like she was cutting the ribbon on a bright new future for daycare in Canada and the local area during a stopover at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Simcoe this week.
The daycare facility at Holy Trinity Tuesday is the latest to become the responsibility of the CEO of Today’s Family Early Learning and Child Care.
During her presentation to parents, educators and local dignitaries, Flaherty spoke enthusiastically about the federal government’s recent commitment to $10 daycare for all.
All provinces are on board – including Ontario – and Flaherty says that makes this an exciting time. She noted some families are paying as much as $90 a day for daycare, yet the service remains inaccessible and unavailable for some.
“Imagine $10 a day child care,” Flaherty said. “We’ve seen families over the years spending so much on daycare and there’s still not enough of it.”
Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting brings to fruition a vision first presented to the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board in 2018. Because the province sees institutional, publicly-funded daycare as an extension of the education system, the facility at Holy Trinity was funded by the Ministry of Education to the tune of $1.7 million.
Scott Keyes, treasurer of the Catholic board and its superintendent of business, says the board is not required to make a capital contribution because the project came in within the ministry’s approved budget. The board, however, is contributing space at Holy Trinity as well as a roster of early childhood educators – 18 in all – to over 49 children ranging from infants (10) to toddlers (15) to pre-schoolers (24).
“We’re full and we have a waiting list,” said Brenda Ferguson, chief operating officer of Today’s Family.
Ferguson added that Today’s Family is a large and growing presence in the local area.
The non-profit, non-denominational company manages a variety of licensed daycare options in Haldimand, Norfolk, Hamilton, Halton Region, and Oxford County. In a typical day, Today’s Family will tend to 4,000 children while their parents are busy supporting the family.
In the local area, Today’s Family’s roster of options includes 25 households where licensed operators provide round-the-clock care seven days a week. One of these operators, Ferguson said, specializes in midnight shifts so working parents can focus on the job secure in the knowledge their children are in good hands.
“We’re looking for more homes in Haldimand-Norfolk,” Ferguson said. “Flexible daycare is such a great fit for so many families.”
Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting featured a blessing of the facility by Father Augustine Ogundele of the Diocese of London. Fr. Ogundele’s benediction included a prayer and the splashing of holy water about the premises.
This is the second provincially-funded daycare opened at a BHNCDSB school in recent months. Before Christmas, a ministry-funded daycare opened at Our Lady of Providence School in Brantford, Keyes said.