As the board and staff work toward a gradual opening of the new facility, Small Town Kids Daycare in Rosenort is hiring for a variety of roles.
"Well, it's a pretty big building," explained daycare director Terry Ginter, noting the facility is located in the new Prairie Hearth development. "There are six play rooms. We have two infant rooms, three preschool rooms and a room they call a transition room for older infants and younger toddlers. We have a full kitchen, laundry room, staff room. It's pretty nice."
Small Town Kids Daycare has been approved for 74 spaces, 20 of those for infant children under the age of 2, and 54 spaces for preschool children ages 2 to 6.
"Rosenort has changed a lot in the last few years since I've lived here," explained Ginter when asked about the importance of the new daycare in town. "There are a lot more double income families. It's shown by our growing wait lists there is a need for quality childcare, and a space for young children to socialize and learn. Rosenort grows by hundreds of people during the day, because of all the industry and the manufacturing companies in town. The daycare can be a nice draw for people for moving into town, which is great for Rosenort."
The daycare board has made the decision to go with a gradual start-up, with the exact timeline on when the facility will open still to be determined and based on staffing and furniture/equipment being installed.
"We're just going to open two rooms to start, and we'll have a few children in each room with one staff," Ginter said. "We'll see how that goes, and then we'll add more staff and more children. The reason is we don't want to stress anyone out. This is brand new for the town, and brand new for a lot of the kids on our wait list. Starting slow will be great for everyone to get to know the other children and the staff."
Ginter noted the key, right now, is Small Town Kids Daycare needs to hire more qualified staff, so it can open more rooms and add more children.
"We're looking for childcare assistants and early childhood educators," she explained. "We're looking for people who are fun, caring, patient, creative, have a love for working with children and helping them grow. There's no deadline to apply, because we're still conducting interviews."
Parents in the area are still able to add their children to the wait list.
"They can e-mail director@stkdaycare.ca and include their child's name, age, and a phone number where they can be reached," she said. "And to those people who are already on our wait list, we just want to thank them for being patient with us as we're finding the right people to care for their children, and setting up a quality space for their children to grow and learn."
You can learn more about Small Town Kids Daycare on their Facebook page and website.
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