SFU Childcare Society
8888 University Drive V5A 1S6 Burnaby, BC, Canada

Opening in November 2020, SFU Childcare Society is pleased to announce that waitlist applications are now being accepted for our new childcare site, ‘SFUCCS- Sapperton Learning Lab’. Based at 7650 Sapperton Avenue, Burnaby, SFUCCS will be offering 103 new childcare spaces, which includes 25 *3-5 yr old and 24 Infant/Toddler spaces. In addition, 54 before and after school spaces will be available to support the local Elementary School Hub, which includes Armstrong, Second St...reet and Seaforth Elementary Schools. Those living in the community will have priority for our Infant/ Toddler and 3-5 programs and those living in the local Elementary School Hub (Armstrong, Second Street and Seaforth) will have priority for the before and after school program. Those wishing to apply for Sapperton Ave-Learning Lab please find the waitlist application, and further enrolment contact information, on our website at http://www.sfu.ca/childcare/enrollment.html. Photograph by: GOOGLE STREET VIEW

SFU Childcare Society invites you to our open job fair!

We are looking for an office administrator! Please follow the link below for more details: http://www.sfu.ca//Careers/Posting_OfficeAdministrator_202

The SFU Community Garden that lies at the edge of the forest has become an special place for the educators and children in our Nanitsh program. For several years, Nanitsh have been a much visible contributor in the community by renting a plot in the garden. They have been shaping a pedagogy based on ways of living and learning with ‘more-than-human’ others in their garden environment. Recently, there was a patio chair design contest and Nanitsh children and educators collaboratively worked together to design various ideas for the chairs. We are happy and excited to announce that Team Nanitsh was chosen to paint their designs on two of the patio chairs. Congratulations Nanitsh! The chairs look amazing and beautiful, and we are so pleased to be able to continue to bring these two communities together.

May is childcare month in BC. Today, we celebrated our amazing educators with a surprise lunch! Thank you for your commitment, compassion, and dedication to making a difference in the lives of young children and families. We appreciate you!

It is very important to us that we can still connect and continue building relationships with all our community. To support families and children at home, our educators created material kits including clay, paper, pastel, etc. We thank our educators for their commitment to stay in touch with our families in creative ways. From a safe distance, we were happy to see smiling parents and children picking up those material kits today. We hope that the kits are an enjoyable exploration. Please share your photos with us!

Introducing our new Infant & Toddler program! On March 2nd, we opened a new Infant & Toddler program on the west side of campus. Thank you to the BC government for their New Spaces Funding Grant that allowed us to provide 12 new quality childcare spaces. We’re excited for the new children, families, and team of educators to explore and engage in this beautiful place!

Tues, Feb 4th 2020 all CHILDCARE Programs are CLOSED today . Due to significant forecasted snow and concerns about commuting and the safety of our community, SFU's Burnaby campus is closed. Updates will be provided tomorrow about the status of campus and the childcare. Please watch out for our usual updates on facebook, twitter, emails and our website

https://twitter.com/sfuchildcare/status/1222983954451402752

https://twitter.com/sfuchildcare/status/1218178581169229826

SFUCCS IS OPEN AS NORMAL - JAN. 16th 2020 As of 6.15am SFU Childcare is OPEN as normal. Please take extra care on your journey to the centre and when walking into the site, as we continue to work with SFU facilities to maintain salting and clearing of pathways in and around the childcare. It is currently 1C on campus with cloudy skies with light snow. Roadways are wet with partial snow covered in area and slippery. Parking lots and walkways are snow-covered. Driving conditions are fair and visibility is good. Please watch for the snow/ice crew working to clear and salt campus roadways, parking lots and walkways.

SFUCCS CLOSED TODAY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15th 2020 Due to current weather conditions SFU’s Burnaby campus will be closed today, January 15, 2020, SFUCCS is also closed ... If you have additional questions, please refer to the SFU severe weather guidelines - https://www.sfu.ca/human-resources/SevWeatherGuidelines.html We will provide an update tomorrow before 6:30 a.m. about the status of campuses being open on January 16, 2020. The latest updates can be found on www.sfu.ca or on Twitter @sfu.

JAN. 14th 2020 As of 6.50am SFU Childcare is open as normal. Please take extra care on your commute to the centre and when walking into the site, as we continue to work with SFU facilities to maintain salting and clearing of pathways in and around the childcare. It is currently -9C on campus with cloudy skies with light snow. Roadways are wet with slush and ice patches. Parking lots and walkways are partially snow-covered. Driving conditions are fair and visibility is good. Please drive with caution, watch for slippery areas and the snow/ice crew working to clear and salt campus roadways, parking lots and walkways.

Jan. 13th, 2020 - 6:47am SFU Childcare Society is OPEN. It is currently -6C on campus with cloudy skies. Roadways, parking lots and walkways are partially snow-covered. Driving conditions are poor and visibility is good. Please drive with caution, watch for slippery areas and the snow/ice crew working to clear and salt campus roadways, parking lots and walkways.

Happy New Year! Our Calm & Connected Parenting Workshop, presented by Georgianna Lee of Cameray Child and Family Services is back for an encore presentation after selling out last fall. Limited tickets are remaining so for more information and to reserve your spot, check out our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sfuccs-parents-workshop-calm-an

Guided by Ann Pelo and Margie Carter’s, From Teaching to Thinking, educators throughout the Lower Mainland, including Infant/Toddler & 3-5 educators from SFUCCS, have been taking part in Communities of Practice, a unique model of professional learning and development where participants are able to create a network of support, seek multiple perspectives from a range of educators, and offer opportunities for deep reflection of pedagogy. This past weekend, Communities of Practice culminated in an inspiring weekend retreat in White Rock with Ann Pelo for several days of meaningful and thought provoking discussions. Our educators are already looking forward to taking part again next year!

A friendly reminder as we head into the last few days of our Fantastic Fall Fundraisers!

We're so excited to announce that our school age program has officially moved into its new space at University Highlands Elementary! We first began planning for this move in 2014 when we received a grant from the government to increase childcare spaces at SFUCCS, and we finally received occupancy this week. Thank you to Simon Fraser University and the Burnaby School District for their assistance in this project, and to our school age educators for making sure the space was ready for the children when they arrived this afternoon. We're so happy to be here!

Our Chef is looking for an assistant! If you know someone with experience in a kitchen looking for a part-time position, please share our posting with them. More information is available on our website: http://www.sfu.ca/childcare/careers.html

Wow! Check out the great work from Dirks Natural Playgrounds on our new 3-5 yard. We can't wait to play on it!

Today SFUCCS staff, educators and children participated in ShakeOut BC, a province-wide #earthquake drill. After following the Drop, Cover, Hold on procedure, we all evacuated to our muster station. Our staff and educators did a great job ensuring that protocols were followed, and as always, we are thankful to Simon Fraser University Safety & Risk Services in coordinating a safe evacuation for us.

Congratulations to Program Director, Jacky Hughes, and Senior Educator, Saaiqa Bhanji, for having their article, Educator Philosophy: An Autoethnographic Dialogue Between Theory and Practice published in Tsurukawa College’s Journal of Research on Global Early Childhood Education and Care. The article was written alongside Koichi Haseyama, who has been involved with SFUCCS for the last five years, bringing students from his school in Japan to tour our programs. Click below to read the article on our website: http://www.sfu.ca//publication---educator-philosophy--an-a Well done, Jacky and Saaiqa!

Today we received an update on our art installation project which will commemorate 50 years of SFU Childcare Society. Here’s what the artist, Brent Comber, had to say about the project: Some progress shots of a sculptural installation underway for SFU Childcare and our inspiration: a naturally hollowed nurse tree and its vital role in a forest's ecosystem; providing shade, nutrients, and water to a new generation of forest inhabitants. Through immersive nature walks, the ch...ildren at SFU Childcare develop an appreciation for the natural world. This sculpture will seek to broaden that awareness and desire for exploration through imaginative interaction. It will encourage a more intimate knowledge of the trees and forests that they are already aware of, one that feels nurturing and fun, and ties back into the cyclical nature of the forest and environment. We can’t wait to see the finished piece, Brent!

Last night concluded our two-part parent workshop, ‘Calm and Connected Parenting’ hosted by Georgianna Lee of Cameray Child and Family Services. Thanks to all of our parents that joined us for these informative sessions. If you missed out, don’t worry - we’ll be running another session with Georgianna in January!

We're hiring part-time & full-time ECE's to join us in 'Leading excellence in Early Care and Learning in a sustainable way.' Apply now!

This past weekend was full of great professional development opportunities for our SFUCCS educators! On Saturday, Morningside educators, Dongryun & Taylor presented at the 2019 North Shore Early Childhood Conference at Capilano University. They presented alongside our 3-5 Pedagogist, Dr. Bo Sun Kim on ‘Reconceptualizing Inclusion: the ethics of recognition of and responsibility for the other’. A group of Infant/Toddler, 3-5, and School Age educators also attended the 5th An...nual Supported Child Development (SCD) Conference, presented by Dr. Deborah MacNamara, PhD & Riley Rosebush, SLP. What a great weekend of learning and sharing!

Today’s sunny weather made for a great turnout at our 4th annual ‘Little Fox Run’! We had lots of parents join our educators and children at the Simon Fraser University Terry Fox Field. Thanks to everyone who made a donation together we raised $170 for the The Terry Fox Foundation!

Thank you #SFU for the #TBT! We will be out there again tomorrow running for cancer research!

We are excited to share that Shaelyn Johnston, SFUCCS Office Administrator, and Accomplished Writer, has received a grant through Telus Storyhive, to bring her short story to life. The screenplay titled, "The Healing Dance", was introduced to the world on Monday. Today at SFUCCS we had 5 screenings of the film where educators had a chance to watch the film and support Shae on this amazing journey! We encourage you to watch the film with your children, family, and friends! Lin...k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQtYt_n9vY #telusstoryhive #sfuccs #sfu

Yesterday we hosted our Outdoor Classroom event in the Town Square of UniverCity. This year was the Society's third time putting this event together, and it always serves as a great way to continue deepening and growing our relationships with the Burnaby Mountain community including Simon Fraser University & UniverCity. It’s also a way for us to promote the great work of our ECE's and children. Our thanks to Sera Oh, SFUCCS Program Support Coordinator, for organizing this year's fantastic event and UniverCity for hosting us in their space.

We're so excited to see that the updated Early Learning Framework has been released! SFU Childcare Society educators provided feedback on an earlier draft of this document last year. It is an essential guide to our practice of working with children and families, and we look forward to studying and engaging with these ideas in our communities of practice.

Earlier today, SFU Childcare Society attended the provincial government’s announcement regarding the creation of additional ECE training spaces in post-secondary institutions across the province. 12 public post-secondary institutions will add a total of 314 spaces in Early Childhood Education programs. Our ED, Rachel Day, and Program Director, Jacky Hughes, attended the announcement at Langara College and had the opportunity to speak with Premier John Horgan and Melanie Mark, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills, and Training. It was also a great opportunity connect with the broader ECE community! To read more on the government’s announcement, click here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019PREM0100-001706

Last night our SFUCCS Board of Directors enjoyed a presentation by our 3-5 Pedagogist, Dr. Bo Sun Kim, and UCC Educator, Leigh Kweon. Their presentation delved into Pedagogist and student/educator relationships, theory and practice. Dr. Kim discussed her role as a Pedagogist referring to the BC Early Learning Framework, and Leigh presented on time in relation to becoming, listening and care. Thank you both for sharing your knowledge and for your work with our programs!

If you’ve walked by the office lately, you’ve probably noticed that all of our gardening from this spring has paid off! Our garden is full of delicious veggies and herbs, and the programs have been enjoying coming by to harvest some delicious snacks to take back to their programs. Yum!

Please join us in welcoming our new Executive Director, Rachel Day, to SFU Childcare Society! Rachel has over 24 years of experience in early and school age child care and education, and is passionate about the important role it plays for our children and community. Rachel is spending the day with our Program Directors, Jacky & Jacqueline, touring each of the programs to meet our educators, children & staff. Welcome, Rachel!

This morning our Program Director Jacky Hughes and Program Support Coordinator Sera Oh had the opportunity to tour our new school-age space at University Highlands Elementary. Construction is nearing completion and we are looking forward to moving day!

We are happy to introduce our newest fundraising initiative with Oliver's Labels, which creates custom labels for your child's clothing and items! Use the link: www.oliverslabels.com/sfuchildcaresociety for your future purchases and 20% of your purchase will go towards supporting our Society. This new fundraising initiative is ongoing, so there is no closing date. Feel free to share the link with your family and friends!

SFU will begin to put up fencing for their Dining Hall Expansion Project (more info: https://www.sfu.ca//projects-in/construction-projects.html) this week which will create changes to our parent drop-off and pick-up locations. The area in the map below outlined in red will soon be blocked off for construction. Our new exterior parent parking spaces will be located at the base of our emergency exit ramp (near Los Ninos & Malaika). Parent parking spaces in the West Parkade wi...ll still be available with a pathway installed through the tennis courts to the childcare buildings. SFU will be providing a traffic enforcement officer that will be available to assist parents for the first few days of the changes. As there will be increased traffic in a smaller area, it is vital that your child/children stay with you when coming down the ramp and enter the parking lot. We ask that all parents take their time when driving in and out of the parking lot to ensure the health and safety of all. Thank you for your patience and understanding while the parking changes are in progress. We will keep you updated on this project through parent emails and through our social media accounts.