Sundowners Philosophy Statement

The Board of Directors and staff of Sundowners Day Care & Resource Centre believe that children deserve the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe, enriching environment. We believe learning happens through positive relationships, exploration, experiences and sense of belonging that enable children to become productive contributors to the world in which they live.

We believe that children are competent, capable of complex thinking, curious and rich in potential. We are committed to the “emergent curriculum” approach to program planning, in which activities “emerge” based on ideas and interests from both children and staff.

We believe play is integral to children’s learning and essential to quality of life in childhood. Exploration and play are a child’s primary way of understanding the world. Children are agents of their own learning, actively building knowledge, skills, dispositions, and feelings. We are committed to fostering each child’s self-esteem, well-being and growing need for independence. All aspects of their development and learning are interrelated and interdependent.

Throughout the network of our school based early learning and child care centres, Sundowners provides warm, personalized care and developmentally appropriate programs for toddler, preschool, kindergarten and school age children. School Boards and parents rely on Sundowners to deliver these special and unique services. While parents appreciate the convenience of having a child care centre in their school; children benefit from a “seamless” day with early learning and care programs designed just for them.