If plans go as expected, Niverville’s Growing Minds Childcare Centre will soon have an additional 30 daycare spots available in their school-age program. This would bring their school-age daycare offering to 75 spaces.
The existing Growing Minds program is run from their location at 21 Main Street.
“We will be renovating a space that can be connected to the space we currently occupy,” says executive director Rhonda Kenning. “While we did work with the province to design the space to be in compliance with licensing requirements, we are not receiving provincial dollars for the expansion and are on a waitlist to have these spaces receive operating funding.”
For Kenning and the Growing Minds team, this is not their first rodeo. The childcare facility has seen numerous expansions over its many years. For this reason, a capital fund was established early on. It has been built upon year after year.
“We are fortunate to have a proactive board of directors made up of parents who assist our management team to make plans for future growth and sustainability of the organization,” Kenning adds. “Careful planning and management has allowed us to fund this important project.”
Securing the additional space at 21 Main Street, she says, was the first step. Once a building permit is received, renovations can begin.
At that stage, she believes the province will move quickly to approve their licensing application despite the fact that priority funding has been focused on infant and preschool spaces.
“It will involve standards inspections that we experience annually at our other locations, including a fire inspection, public health inspection, and licensing inspection from our childcare coordinator,” says Kenning. “That process is usually quite flawless. If all goes according to plan, we usually get the go ahead to start enrolling, provided there are no issues to address that are significant enough to prevent children from occupying the space.”
Kenning says that the need for more school-age spots became evident this year when finding adequate space for their daycare enrolees completing Kindergarten became a challenge.
“The need for licensed care in our community is at an all-time high and any additional spaces are so beneficial to young families,” Kenning concludes.
