ESTEVAN - A licensed child care facility, Hillcrest Early Learning Centre will be celebrating 10 years this December.
For a decade they've been providing care and supervision for children between the ages of 18 months and 12 years. And Tyley Hitchens, the director at the Hillcrest Early Learning Centre, said that some kids were with them throughout that entire time.
Their programming is based on play and exploration.
"We believe that children learn through their play. The more children have to explore in their environments, the more they're learning through that form, than if we were to sit them at a table and have them do just workbooks all day. They are learning through all the different things they're exploring," Hitchens explained.
The board-ran centre is taking care of 55 kids from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
While the age range of their patrons is wide, they currently have school-aged kids that have been with the centre since they were toddlers.
Hitchens said their biggest asset that keeps kids excited about coming to the centre is the staff.
"We have a wonderful staff in the building. They really care about the kids. They want to be here. They enjoy their jobs. And you can see it when they're working with the kids," Hitchens said.
While after 10 years some kids start to age out and are getting ready to leave the centre, Hitchens said having them for so long was very pleasurable.
"We are super proud that we've been able to keep them in the centre for as long as we have," she said.
School-aged kids usually come just before and after their classes, and preschoolers and toddlers have their own programming that keeps them busy throughout the day.
A usual day at Hillcrest Early Learning Centre starts with a snack and then kids go into group work and group play. Weather dependent, they usually spend quite a bit of time outside, then have lunch at the centre followed by a rest period, snack and more outdoor time.
"We do believe that outside is the best place for them, especially with COVID. And on days that we can't go outside we have different centres, different areas set up and lots of art and science and exploration for them," Hitchens said.
With a pool close by, some kids got to enjoy swimming throughout hot summer days. Besides, they have a water source on their property, so children had a summer-long water battle to cool down and just have some fun.
Hitchens added that they have powered through COVID, doing the very best they could within the limitations. At some point, they could take in as little as eight kids at a time, and some staff had to be laid off, which was really hard.
"We are a family here. We like to see everybody succeeding in their positions and their jobs here. And the time that the schools were closed, we had all of our school-aged kids here in the building doing online learning. And that was probably the hardest time in the centre, trying to make sure that all those kids were able to do that," Hitchens said.
So far the centre is learning as they used to before the pandemic, but Hitchens said that if the situation changes, they will follow the directions from the health authority.
