Our Childcare Centre remains open: 8:00 am to 5:30 pm. Please contact our Supervisor directly for questions related to COVID-19 health and safety measures, and changes to programs.
Space is limited, so we encourage all interested families to learn more about our Waldorf approach to childcare by joining a virtual tour. Once a tour has been completed please request the waiting pool application. There is no fee to apply for the waiting pool. Childcare Fees
Waldorf Academy’s Childcare Centre provides parents a safe, caring and educationally sensitive environment for their young children. Age-appropriate activities are offered with a child’s intellectual, emotional, physical and social development in mind. Children are guided through daily activities including songs and games, indoor and outdoor free play, story time with puppets, nature activities and preparing a nutritious snack. Seasonal crafts, painting, gardening and baking are woven into each week. From the warmth and rhythm of the class, children develop a sense of security and confidence, make new friendships, and enjoy their connection with nature. CLICK HERE to go to Childcare website.
The young child is in a beautiful and natural environment that is home-like with a caregiver who is nurturing.
Through our daily, weekly and seasonal rhythm, the child experiences security and forms a close bond with the care-giver. The movement curriculum emphasizes child-initiated activities, providing opportunities for spontaneous movement in a safe environment. This promotes healthy musculoskeletal development and gross motor skills. Traditional games and finger-plays provide opportunities for the children to imitate healthy movement, develop proprioception and increase both their small and large motor skills.
The children go outside in all but the most inclement weather. This helps them become more robust and strengthens their bond with the environment in which they live.
Emphasis is on loving human interaction: warm speech, live singing, verses, and stories are the focus, rather than technology. At certain times, this group may be mixed age, giving the children ‘siblings’ to interact with and imitate, as in any family setting. This program is geared toward helping the child find his/her way to connect with others in a social setting and to have a gentle transition into the routines of the Preschool.
Young children, filled with wonder and curiosity, see beauty and purpose in everything. The teacher’s role in this program is to foster this sense by creating an environment that is beautiful and natural, and an atmosphere that permits exploration of the natural world. Children will make independent discoveries through their experiences of this world and use these discoveries in their own creative play.
Children learn from their parents, each other, their teachers, and the world around them by seeing and imitating what they see. It is necessary at this age to provide them with as many experiences as possible, such as singing, dancing, creating music, puppet shows, crafts, baking, gardening, painting, beeswax modelling, creative movement, and dramatic play. In addition, time for free play, indoors and outdoors is essential as children need time to assimilate and synthesize what they have observed around them. The foundation for academic learning is laid through imitative play.
Our daily rhythm includes free play, time for snack preparation, outdoor time, group and story time with seasonal verses, and for full time a nutritious lunch, followed by rest time. The afternoon rhythm will continue with quiet free play time, the afternoon snack, outdoor play and the weekly activities.
Childcare Ontario Subsidy:
At Waldorf Academy, we believe the delivery of our program is paramount. We have consistently offered one of the most desirable childcare experiences in the city, and we believe that our approach to child care is highly effective, and desirable.
At this time, we have not been informed of the specific conditions around opting into this program. We have until September to decide if we will opt in or out. We are awaiting details around the conditions of opting in to ensure that we will be able to continue to offer the excellent Waldorf program that parents expect when they choose to entrust their children in our care.
If we believe we are able to participate in the program, without compromising our program delivery or program stability, we will do everything we can to participate, and pass whatever monies are received from the government to parents, in the form of reduced fees, as directed by the program. If we decide that we need to opt-out, we will keep our fees as planned for 2022/2023 that were approved by our board in January 2022.
Preparing for Life
Ample Time and Space P1
Caring Environments P2
Consistent Rhythms P3
Real Life Activities P4
Relationships Based on Love P5
Educators Committed P6
