Marydd,
You asked about opening your own nursery program in the Ask section. I thought having a forum topic dedicated to your question might help answer your question in more depth.
Do you have a location already: Will you be building from the ground up? Will you be remodeling an existing building?
Once you have a location picked, you must submit an application to open a day nursery to your local Ministry of Children and Family Services. They will send you a list of requirements. Most likely they will need a copy of your building permit (if one was required), zoning, Public Health Approval, Fire Inspection and Building Inspection before they will visit your location for a licensing inspection. You will also have to provide them with an inventory of all your toys and furnishings. Your license will be based on square feet per child. Keep in mind my experience is in ON. We do have some experts in other provinces, who might be able to shed some light on their requirements once we know where you are located.
If you provide me with more details of your plan, I can offer some more advice. We just opened a new program at my centre (today in fact) and it is a lot of hard work, but worth it in the end.
This is a great website with lots of wonderful information.
Hi, I am not an ECE educator but would love to own my own daycare. I found a potential spot for the centre but I'm not sure if I can run it without having a diploma. Can anyone give me advice? Thanks!
You could be the owner/operator, however you would need a supervisor with an ECE diploma and a minimum of 2 years experience to be Ministry Approved in Ontario. Depending on the size of your centre, this person could also double as a toddler/preschhol teacher, as an example. Bigger centres require a separate supervisor that does not count in ratios.
Hi again, thanks for your response. Yes I am located in Ontario, I have been scouting out a couple of potential sites for the nursery school. They are both based in Churches. I have noticed quite a few nursery schools are church based. Both churches have a large meeting/banquet room. The one church has thier room located in the basement the other one is located at the back of the church, with a separate entrance. I was wondering what kind of renovations would be necessary to accomdate a nursery school program.I think it would be a good opportunity for the church as a source of income and as for me, I would hope that the rent would be reasonable. Both churches do not use thier extra rooms much during the week. I am only looking to run a half day nursery school program. Currently there is a shortage of quality centre based childcare programs in my community. There are no nursery school programs at all. I have been reading over the DNA and some of the requirements, but a lot of them pertain more specifically to full day childcare programs. I would like to talk to someone who could give me some more info on the steps I should take to make my dream a reality.
You can open a daycare as an operator without a ECE diploma, but you will need to hire an ECE supervisor to be in the centre. If you go to the goverment of Ontario website, you can find links to the Day Care Nurseries Act (DNA) with more specific information. Hope this helps you a little. Good luck with your daycare!
Mary, your idea is a great one. We are located in the basement of a church as well. Our rent provides income to the church and security to the site during the week, and they use the site on weekends. They were very generous in their rent demands and we know the area will be maintained safetly as they have the health and safety of the congregation in mind as well. We had to retrofit the church with washrooms (new septic system to handle the increased use) and safe drinking water. Other then that, everything was entirely cosmetic. Outside we had to fence in our play space (for nursery school, you are not required outdoor play I do not think as your program is short in duration) and add gross motor equipment.
Will you run the centre as non-denominational? That has been one small issue we've had to overcome. Prospective new parents assume we are affiliated with the church and we are not. We make sure to explain this when they come for a tour. I do not want a family disappointed if they think they will be getting relgious teachings if that is not the case. I imagine some people ahve been scared off from even calling our centre because they do not want a religious program.
Here is an awesome package for opening your own centre in Ontario: http://www.childcarelearning.on.ca/prospective_operator/orientation-package-en.pdf
The entire childcarelearning.on.ca site is awesome for operators and supervisors.
Do i need any certificates for getting a license for private home day care?
For information in opening a licensed home day care, call your local Ministry office.