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INFORMATION PACKAGE FOR THE CHARTWELL PARENTS
Top Drawer Daycare is a privately owned and operated daycare, and have been serving families across North Vancouver since early 1989. Top Drawer is founded on the fundamental belief that every child is a unique creation, deserving of love, respect, a safe and secure environment and an opportunity to freely discover themselves, others and the world at large.
We provide care for children from Kindergarten to grade 7. Because of our excellent care and program, Top Drawer daycare is recognized as one of the leading daycares on the North Shore. We are licensed by Vancouver Coastal Health and we maintain the high standards they set to comply with the Child Care Regulations.
This Top Drawer Daycare branch is conveniently located in the Chartwell Elementary school, at 1300 Chartwell Drive West Vancouver BC V7S 2R3. In the rental space provided by the school, our facility is licensed to care for up to 17 children and our hours of operation are from 7:00am to 8:30am every day and from 3pm to 6:00pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays the daycare is open from 12 noon to 6:00pm. We also provide full day care during school professional days but are closed during statuary holidays and the two weeks that the school are closed in December.
Our goal is to provide a truly enjoyable experience that emphasize an active and healthy lifestyle. In addition to regular playground outings, craft projects and organized games, our structured, active program includes ice skating, gymnastics, crossfit, rock climbing, bowling, hiking, swimming lessons for all interested children and regular swimming for children ages 8 years and up. These outings are completely optional and other than entrance fee to the venue’s we visit, there are no additional charges to the parents for these field trips, In order to simplify financial arrangements for these field trips, the parents open a $30 activity account at the daycare and funds from this account are used for entrance fees during the field trips. Every month parents top up the balance of this account to $30. Although the daycare administers this account, the funds in this account belongs to the child and not the daycare. Top Drawer Daycare keeps accurate records of this activity fund. Tax receipts for these funds as well as daycare payments are made available at the end of the year.
Our care include transportation to the various outings offered by the daycare at no additional cost to the parents. All Top Drawer Daycare vehicles are inspected every six months, as required by the Provincial Regulations. In addition, all of our drivers have a professional unrestricted class 4 driving licence, are first aid certified, carry cell phones and medical kits for any emergencies.
Top Drawer Daycare provide childcare services during Parent/Teacher Interviews and Sports/Fun days when the children are dismissed early from school, at no extra cost to the parents. The daycare also provide childcare services during all district as well as school based professional days. During these professional days, as much as 8 additional hours of supervision is required and additional staff has to be appointed. A reasonable fee to cover extra expenses will be charged for these days. During these long days, special events are organised for the children. Parents will be required to sign up their children for these services 48 hours prior to the professional day. This is necessary to plan for staffing, reservations for the events and transport.
For the 2016 – 2017 school year, Chartwell School will not be available for childcare during spring breaks and summer vacations. However Top Drawer offer optional spring break and summer care programs at another branch and children from the Chartwell campus could be accommodated in these programs. A fee is charged to cover the spring break (two weeks in March) and summer vacation period (July to August). As there is a limit to the number of children that can be enrolled for these programs, we urge parents to enroll their children well ahead of time. Details about the spring break program will be made available at the end of January each year and that of summer care it will be available in May.
Top Drawer Daycare programs are closed for all Statutory Holidays and for the Christmas school break. We spread the cost of the daycare over the full school year. Daycare fees for the month of March and December thus remain consistent with all other months as we still have to pay rent and salaries for those months. However no daycare fees are charged for the months of July and August. For this period, summer care program fees will apply for those that are entered in the program.
Following are the fee structure for the various programs. In the interest of using the limited space as efficient as possible, children entering for the full day program will get priority.
In the best interest and comfort of your child, we ask that your child wear weather appropriate clothing as they will spend time outside every day, rain or shine. This includes sunscreen and sunhats for our warm weather months, rain boots and rain coats for those rainy days. Please ensure your child has multiple snacks in their lunch bag as they tend to need refuelling after school and before daycare activities ensue. Top Drawer daycare does not provide any meals or snacks.
In order to keep the children, families and staff in good standing health, please do not send your child to daycare unless they are healthy. We are unable to accommodate sick children in our very busy, active programs. Except for allergic medical emergencies, where the epi pen are required, we are not allowed to administer medication to any child in our care.
As the safety of the children and staff is our top priority, Top Drawer Daycare reserves the right to take all our vehicles off the road, when the weather and road conditions make transporting the children dangerous. As a general rule, Top Drawer Daycare will not transport on days where snowfalls or icy conditions place the children and staff at risk. However, Top Drawer Daycare will remain open for the regular hours that parents have paid for.
For the safety of our children, Top Drawer Daycare has a tested system of checking arrival and departures of its children. If you are having someone other than any previously arranged person pick up your child from the daycare, be sure to notify the staff of this change. If your child will not come to the daycare during the hours that they are expected, please notify the daycare staff well ahead of time so they will know not to expect your child. We have voicemail for your convenience.
Once in the daycare, no children will be allowed to leave the daycare without a parent (or an arranged substitute) collecting the child in person. The only exception would be if we get explicit instructions from the parents to release a child.
The daycare staff communicates with the Parents/Guardians on a regular basis. The staff will raise any issues they think is important to you as a parent and you should feel free to ask any questions related to your child or the daycare in general.
There are always circumstances where the regular daycare program may change, new matters surface or important information needs to be communicated to the parents. The daycare will communicate with parents via personal contact, email, voicemail and our website at https://www.topdrawerdaycare.com/ There is also a parent notice board at the classroom entrance/exit and we ask that the Parents/Guardians check this board. We also encourage our Parents/Guardians to talk to the owner about any questions or concerns or suggestions they may have.
We ask that Parents/Guardians respect the hours of business and collect their children before our closing time of 6:00pm. This will allow you time to greet your child, collect their belongings and receive information from the staff in a relaxed manner. We understand that sometimes things happen that are out of your control however we will take the issue up with repeat offenders.
The daycare will do its best to help your child adapt to the new environment. However for the sake of the other children in the daycare, Top Drawer Daycare reserves the right to give 48 hours’ notice to any family whose child or parent/guardians are not able to adapt to the program offered. When the safety of our children and staff are at stake, Top Drawer also reserves the right to terminate care for the offending parties immediately in cases where issues of violence or aggressive behaviours are involved.
One calendar month’s notice is required to vacate your child’s space in Top Drawer Daycare.
Parents pay for daycare by providing a set of post-dated cheques for the school year or whatever portion of the school year that is relevant. Fees are due, in advance, on the first day of each month and are payable to Top Drawer Daycare.
We sincerely hope that your relationship with Top Drawer Daycare will be a happy and successful one. Be assured that we will make every effort to provide your children with a safe, warm and sensitive environment.