Program Statement

Our GOALS and APPROACHES

A) Atelier Kids promotes the health, safety, nutrition and wellbeing of the child

Overview: Keeping children healthy and safe is our priority, and we understand that a parent’s highest concern is their child’s well-being. We are dedicated to supporting children’s health, safety, nutrition and wellbeing through caring and responsive educators, and we focus on current research and theories to support our efforts.

Approach & Strategy: Atelier Kids promotes children’s health, safety, nutrition and well-being through practices and approaches that are woven into our compliance of written policies and procedures which encompass:

  • the safe and responsible supervision of children

  • a clean environment that adheres to and exceeds safety standards

  • adherence to child protection procedures and awareness training

  • a healthy relationship with food and menu planning which follows the Canada Food Guide

  • an emergency procedures plan that is in place and practiced

B) Atelier Kids supports positive and responsive interactions among our children, parents, educators and all staff

Overview: Children flourish and develop when they are in positive, responsive relationships with adults. We are all partners in learning; therefore we value each person involved in this process of learning together. We support each child’s voice to develop and sustain a healthy and positive early learning environment. We believe that children have the right to be heard and the right to be part of decision-making processes within and beyond the classroom. Empowered children become strong, capable community citizens.

Approach & Strategy: Our educators, and our entire team, support positive and responsive interactions by:

  • listening to children’s conversations and observing body language to support engagement and expression

  • building a foundation of trust with children by being present in the moment, physically available, emotionally responsive

  • caring for their physical and emotional needs with sensitivity and responsiveness 

  • creating an inclusive, respectful environment to foster positive, equitable and collaborative relationships amongst our staff

  • interacting and communicating with parents on a daily basis, sharing observations, documentation and reflections

C) Atelier Kids encourages the child to interact and communicate in a positive manner and supports their ability to self-regulate

Overview: Atelier Kids believes that it is the role of the adult in a child’s life to support them to learn how to interact effectively with the world around them, including other children, adults, and their environment. This includes self regulation and the development of a sense of self as being capable and able to manage their emotions and behaviours.

Approach & Strategy: We establish and provide environments and spaces for positive interactions among children where we:

  • ensure there are quiet, calming spaces within each of our classrooms to promote the opportunity for reflection and/or alone time

  • emphasize small group experiences to allow for more individualized adult attention

  • serve as role models for inclusive, respectful, and collaborative interactions with children and other adults

  • ensure that sufficient and instructive toys, loose parts, art materials, outdoor equipment, and other early learning materials are available to children at all time

  • ensure that the children are provided freedom to make choices

  • encourage the understanding and expression of feelings and emotions through group discussion, hands-on art explorations and one-on-one support from educators

D) Atelier Kids fosters the child’s exploration, play and inquiry

Overview: Children play naturally. We support the child by providing learning environments that invite curiosity, imagination, investigation and discovery. The curriculum is child-ignited and educator-guided and supported. We promote the natural act of play where children explore their world through their senses, repetition of tasks, imitation, asking questions, and pretending.

Approach & Strategy: Our role is to support the child’s natural tendency to play so that, consequently, learning and development flourish. Our educators foster the child’s exploration, play and inquiry by:

  • being involved as active participants in their play

  • adapting the environment in response to the child’s interests and curiosities

  • encouraging the child to determine and decide where, when, with what and how they play


E) Atelier Kids provides child-initiated and adult-supported experiences

Overview: We hold a strong “image of the child” that values the development and potential of each individual. As the child begins to show interest in specific activities or topics, our educators adjust the experiences to give the child more exposure to those interests. When this approach to learning takes place, along with the educator’s understanding of child development, the child’s competence, capacity and potential are maximized. The Atelier Kids educator is a researcher; competent, capable, and full of potential to enrich, sustain, and support both the child’s learning, and their own learning.

Approach & Strategy: Our curriculum is an inquiry- and play-based approach to learning, allowing the child to take the lead and to then focus on their interest to develop learning experiences. Our educators provide child-initiated and adult-supported experiences by:

  • maximizing opportunities to ask the child open-ended questions, and to engage in discussion that expands their curiosity, learning and interests

  • carefully curating the classroom with explorations and materials to support the child’s observed interests

  • fostering authentic communication and relationships that begin with an understanding of who one is as a person, as an educator, and as a citizen of the community

  • evolving the traditional role of rule keeper and information provider to a more unique role as co-learner, and co-researcher, working alongside children with an open attitude for growth and change

F) Atelier Kids incorporates indoor and outdoor play, as well as active play, rest and quiet time, into the day, and gives consideration to the individual needs of the children receiving child care

Overview: Our daily schedule strives to meet the needs of all the children and provides a balance of activities throughout our day. Toddlers and preschoolers thrive when they can rely on predictable patterns, regular schedules, and familiar routines. These consistent events reinforce their sense of security.

Approach & Strategy: Our educators provide variety and balance by:

  • encouraging inquiry-based explorations, indoors and outdoors, which develop seamlessly from the child’s curiosities and the group’s interests

  • providing quiet time and calm spaces for rest and rejuvenation in each classroom, and outdoors in the garden and atelier

  • ensuring enough time is dedicated in our schedule/routines to explore, play, and enjoy activities both indoors and out

  • minimizing transitions from activity-to-activity so children receive quality time to play

  • ensuring snacks, lunch time and nap/rest periods are consistent

G) Atelier Kids fosters the engagement of and ongoing communication with parents about the program and their children 

Overview: A close partnership with our families is important. Communication, collaboration, and dialogue to learn about different family values gives us all a sense of belonging, engagement, expression and well-being. We believe that a parent/guardian is the child’s first educator and the most important person in a child’s life. Our educators play a supporting role while the child is in our care.

Approach & Strategy: Our Atelier Kids educators foster engagement and communication by:

  • frequently and consistently communicating with parents/guardians about their child’s activities, wellbeing and health via our online parent communication app, Lillio

  • documenting, in our Atelier Kids Journey Books, the child’s growth, development, and the outcomes of our daily explorations via artwork, loose parts creations and photographs of the child at play

  • creating documentation for families, and the children in the class, which include observations of children’s interests, explorations and their connections to learning

H) Atelier Kids involves local community partners and allows those partners to support the children, their families and staff

Overview: We reside in a wonderfully multicultural, vibrant community and Atelier Kids enjoys being an active partner within it. We support the development of strong relationships and provide opportunities to strengthen these community ties. This includes children, families, neighbours, educators, policy makers and professional partners, and begins with great communication and mutual respect throughout our centre and beyond, in order to better understand the various perspectives that exist within the community.

Approach & Strategy: We are committed to facilitating and fostering relationships in a healthy and positive way to connect with our community by:

  • liaising with community members to facilitate programs, and learning from others in the community through formalized opportunities and informal networking

  • offering professional development opportunities and training workshops to support other community educators

  • being an involved and communicative member of our residential neighbourhood

  • working in close cooperation and collaboration with specialized services when required, such as Resource Consultants, who can assist families in need of support by providing resources for their child

  • working in close support with Kingsway College School and surrounding schools in an effort to share awareness of each school’s unique approach, yet identify common goals to educate the children of our local community

I) Atelier Kids supports staff in relation to continuous professional learning

Overview: By generating regular and continuous opportunities for educators to meet and discuss the values and goals of early education, we extend our learning. It is important to broaden our learning and deepen our relationships between children, educators and parents; with each professional development initiative we continue to challenge and extend our current knowledge.

Approach & Strategy: We support continuous professional learning by:

  • providing regular and consistent (4 x yearly + monthly) on-site professional development and training related to early learning and the Reggio-inspired approach

  • onboarding to support all levels of leadership to mentor, coach and develop each new educator in our centres

J) Atelier Kids documents and reviews the impact of the strategies set out in clauses (a) to (j) on the children and their families

Overview: Atelier Kids is committed to supporting children to grow to their fullest potential in a safe, caring, nurturing and joyful environment. This Program Statement describes the specific goals of Atelier Kids for children’s learning and development, and the approaches that will be implemented. Each member of the Atelier Kids team holds a role and responsibility in ensuring the approaches in the Program Statement are implemented.

Approach & Strategy: Approaches by management, supervisors and educators in the implementation and monitoring of the Program Statement will follow a specific outline:

  • All currently enrolled parents/families are required to review and sign off on our Program Statement/Parent Guidebook before enrolment of their child

  • All new educators, students and volunteers will be oriented to the Atelier Kids Program Statement before they interact with children

  • Educators, students and volunteers will be required to formally review the Atelier Kids Program Statement annually or when there are substantive changes to the Program Statement ; recorded verification of the review will be signed and dated by all educators, students and volunteers

  • All educators, students and volunteers will be monitored and observations documented for the implementation of approaches as set out in the Program Statement

  • Goals related to the implementation of and observation(s) related to the Program Statement, will be incorporated into the ongoing process of performance evaluation

Our Program Statement describes the following:

  • The philosophy which summarizes our goals

  • The strategies which guide our approaches to achieve our goals

  • The plans of action which execute these strategies

  • The practices which help us implement, monitor and evaluated plans, and continually improve our performance