Within the Kanata Research Park Family Centre is a community composed of children, families, educators, and all other team members. Our framework draws deeply from Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years “How Does Learning Happen?”, as well as the principles of Reggio Emilia. Each of our dynamic programs create spaces where all children are viewed as competent, curious and capable contributors who are valued and listened to. Learning is responsive and collaborative, group relationships are democratic and thoughtfully planned experiences which provoke thinking and wonder. Educators and children participate in intentional educational research where all are colearners. Learning includes engagement within and beyond our walls to community partners such as Chartwell Retirement Residence, our onsite landscaping experts and relationships with local wood making businesses and so many more. Our kitchen team is the heartbeat of the Family Centre, providing nutritional snacks and meals that facilitate wellbeing and healthy eating. Shared connections beyond food are evident as relationships with children and the kitchen team are apparent in daily interactions with educators and especially with the children themselves. Awareness of healthy living, as well as physical and emotional well-being, are also intertwined in daily experiences with each child.
Our philosophies about children and who they are, have been deeply considered by all who belong to the Family Centre community. Children have many rights which we honour, especially those with special rights. Children are active citizens and valued contributors to society, right from birth. We celebrate the individual, their uniqueness and are inclusive of all. We are listeners of a child’s ideas, thoughts, contributions, theories and wonderings. We consider their needs and know that each child learns in relation to others. We foster relationships with other children, with adults, with spaces and nature, with materials, with our community and with society itself. Our environments invite collaboration, exchange and dialogue. Learning happens both indoors and out and time is set aside for both active and restful times during the day. Educators document learning and it is featured in classrooms, in outdoor spaces and through an online platform where dialogue, insights and pedagogical conversations can take place. Documentation is an integral part of our practice and is ongoing as we seek to understand each child’s unique and complex thinking.
Learning is reciprocal in terms of the educational research done alongside the children in daily experiences, in planned projected curriculum opportunities and in all professional learning done by educators. Teams of educators meet weekly for team dialogues where we discuss observations about the children, our current documentation projects, curricular offerings and responses and reflections about our professional practice. Discourse is encouraged and opinions are shared during staff room lunch times, staff meetings and large team gatherings. We have a yearly retreat for all team members that creates time for us to learn together and engage in meaningful, current and reflective dialogue. Educators participate in professional development opportunities of their choice throughout the year as individuals, in small teams of colleagues and often in larger teams and groups.
We view families as essential partners and valued contributors in our journey together here at the Family Centre. Participation, communication, and active engagement with our programs and the educators build strong relationships that are both trusted and reciprocal. Our space has an open door policy where we greet families first during the orientation process which welcomes all members of the family unit into our community. Parents spend time in the program building relationships with educators, asking questions and becoming familiar with daily life at the Family Centre. Families are also active contributors to curricular projects, documentation engagement and special event planning and celebrations. Cultural contributions are valued as enriching experiences for all who belong to our community. We encourage insight, sharing of reflections and experiences and collaboration as we design our learning environments to stimulate curiosity, investigation, inquiry, discovery and self expression. In recent experiences, families have planned cultural celebrations alongside educators, made suggestions for extending learning based on observations at home, shared travel experiences, provided expertise such as building birdhouses or sewing costumes with the children. A family wall can be found in each program where each child sees his or her family and can hold that photograph if ever needed. A sense of belonging with our families is part of the identity of our space and the rights of the family exist alongside the rights of the child.
The natural spaces surrounding the Family Centre are foundational to the relationships we create with nature, with our own well-being and physical experiences, with our environment and with our culture as Canadians. Adventure play is embraced as children explore big body play, navigate physical challenges and enhance a growing awareness of self. We embrace the natural elements, building resilience of the changing weather and exploring our shared Canadian experience outdoors. Learning opportunities are planned indoors and outdoors and our commitment to nature play is ongoing and evolving. All age groups make frequent excursions to Rocky Hill, the Duck Pond, the Peninsula, the Train Track Forest, the Big Forest and the adjacent soccer field and all children are familiar with and form relationships with these spaces. Consideration of our environment, ideas of sustainability and our relationship with the land and the living world is integral in our day to day experiences with the child and their families. The natural spaces within our community are embraced, investigated and the aesthetic nature offers is documented by educators as we seek to deepen our relationship with our living world.
It is our hope that all children, families, educators, staff and those work along side us have a place that is their own, where they feel important, respected, secure, and cared for here at the Family Centre.
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