Richard Froese
South Peace News
A new regional daycare centre in Falher plans to open in the next few months.
Busy Bee Daycare will make its home in the former office of the Smoky River Express.
Smoky River Childcare Society received a key approval from the Town of Falher.
At its regular meeting March 15, Falher council adopted an amended bylaw to add childcare facility as a discretionary use within the general commercial district.
“We are working hard to be open at the end of June 2021,” society president Jessica Simard says.
“We kept the old name of the previous day care that was located in Falher years ago, to retain some local history, nostalgia and stay true to our ‘Honey Capital” theme of the town.”
When the day care opens, the society plans to serve children from 19 months old to 12 years.
“We will look at taking the younger ages once the ratios and spacing works out with licensing to add those,” Simard says.
The new daycare will fill a need in the region.
“We are a childcare desert, meaning there are no licensed childcare spaces in our entire region,” Simard says.
“The need to provide quality licensed child care to the communities is huge.”
She says the society has been committed since it was formed in 2018 and incorporated in 2019.
“The board has been working tirelessly for three years on this project and we are very excited to see things finally coming together to make it a reality,” Simard says.
“We are excited to get everything ready for the children in June.”
The society continues to renovate the building to get the space ready to be inspected.
Simard says the society is also working to get the day care licenced and to hire and train staff before it moves in.
Outside, the society will also be busy landscaping and installing fencing and play structures.
The society has a vision to:
- -Provide and promote licensed, good quality, affordable and accessible early learning and childcare programs to meet the needs of all children and families in the Smoky River region.
- -Provide a safe, developmentally inclusive environment for all ages from infants to school-age children.
- -Provide a stimulating early-learning and childcare experience that promotes each child’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.
- -Provide safe healthy child care for children.
- -Give parents a sense of involvement with decisions within the centre.
- -Provide equal access for all children no matter their abilities or backgrounds.
- -Provide education and prepare children for school; socially, emotionally and intellectually.
- -Provide a safe and healthy structure for all children.
- -To provide quality inclusive and diverse programming.
- -To give parents peace of mind while their children are at the centre.
- -To provide qualified staff to meet the needs of each individual child.