Roberge Early Childhood Learning Center

Child Care, Nursery School, Before & After School Care

80 Berlin Rd. Cromwell, CT 06416

860–635-0787 FAX 860-635-1703 email relcinc83@gmail.com

John Donovan

Owner/Director

Louise Donovan

Owner/ Early Childhood Education Specialist

Professional Care in a Non-Institutional Setting

Registration Information:

Schedule of attendance __________________Start Date __________ Last Day of attendance ____________

Child’s Name_______________________________________ Date of Birth______________________

Child’s home Address _________________________________________________________________

Family

Father’s Name ______________________________________________________________________

Home Address ______________________________________________________________________

Place of employment (please include address) ______________________________________________

Home Tel. _____________________ Work Tel. _________________cell/FAX ___________________

Email ___________________________________________________

Mother’s Name ______________________________________________________________________

Home Address ______________________________________________________________________

Place of employment (please include address) ______________________________________________

Home Tel. _____________________ Work Tel. _________________cell/FAX ___________________

Email ___________________________________________________

Person(s) to contact and to whom your child may be released to in event of emergency or if a parent cannot be reached. (required by DPH)

1. Name _______________________________Relationship______________________________

Home tel. __________________Work tel. __________________cell/FAX ________________

1.           2. Name _______________________________Relationship__________________________

Home tel. __________________Work tel. __________________cell/FAX ________________

Child’s Physician ________________________________________Tel. ____________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________________________

Emergency Service: In the event that our child, ___________________________, needs any type of medical attention I my/our absence, I/we grant the staff of Roberge Day Care Center, Inc permission for any treatment needed until we can be contacted. If treatment necessitates transportation to a medical facility for emergency care, we understand that the emergency medical technicians of the Cromwell Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Department will be called upon. Please note hospital of preference __________________________.

I affirm that the above information is correct and will immediately advise the director in writing of any changes.

Parent(s)/Legal Guardian signature _____________________________________________________________

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Prekindergarten, Before & After School Care

80 Berlin Rd. Cromwell, CT 06416

860–635-0787 FAX 860-635-1703 email john_donovan@sbcglobal.net

John Donovan

Louise Donovan

Owners/Directors

Tuition / Enrollment Agreement

Registration and Enrollment:

To enroll your child(ren) at the center you must complete the registration form, Tuition/Enrollment Agreement and Connecticut Early Childhood Health Assessment Record (which must be dated and signed by your child’s physician), and remit payment for the first week’s tuition which is non-refundable. Please choose one of the three payment options listed on the reverse for subsequent payments. Parents do not need to re–register your child annually, however two weeks notice is expected before withdrawing from enrollment. In lieu of two weeks notice, two weeks tuition payment is required. In the event the center closes for an extended period of time due to natural disaster, pandemic, etc, no tuition fees are required to maintain your child’s enrollment if and when the center reopens. If you choose to keep your child home during a natural disaster, pandemic, etc and the center remains open, payment of normal tuition will be required to maintain your child’s enrollment. The director reserves the right to terminate the enrollment of any child at anytime if circumstances arise that interfere with the safe operation of the center, may compromise the quality of the program or cause detriment to other children or staff. Our Children’s Behavior Policy has been covered with all parents upon enrollment. ______________parent initial.

The Office of Early Childhood requires that all children enrolled in licensed child care centers show proof of annual physical exams and required immunizations. Documentation of these must be supplied on forms available at the center or your physician’s office. It is the parent’s responsibility to keep your child’s registration information and health/ immunization records up to date. Any changes of address, place of employment, telephone, custody, etc. must be submitted in writing to the director. Changes in regular arrival and departure times must be approved by the director in order to insure that our staffing is adequate.

Social Media Consent: The center employs several social media apps for the purpose of sharing program information with parents and advertising. Parents initials here ______________ provide consent for posting children’s photos/videos on Tadpoles, Facebook, our website and Instagram.

 

Parents will supply your child’s lunch and a.m. and p.m. snacks. The center will provide milk and water. Parents of infants and those children with specific dietary requirements will provide the child’s entire diet. Parents must make the director aware in writing of any special dietary needs and/or restrictions.

Parents of children yet to be toilet trained will provide diapers and topical medications as needed.

The director and staff are available throughout business hours. Please be sensitive to the staff’s immediate responsibilities to the children in the group their group when consulting with staff during business hours.

Continued …

Hours of Operation:

The center is open 7:00am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday with the exception of the days listed below: Good Friday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday. The center will be closed  one week in July (generally the week containing the 4^th). The center closes at 1:00pm December 24^th and will reopen January 2 unless it falls on a Friday. Fees are not charged for the two shut own weeks. Fees are charged for the other listed holidays. Fees are not reduced for delayed openings, early or complete closing due to severe weather. The director reserves the right to change the above holiday schedule and hours of operation. Parents will be given written notice of any changes.

The schedule of child care fees are as follows:

Children 6 weeks to 3^rd birthday and toilet trained: $300.00 per week or $75.00 per day

Children 3 to 5 years: $250.00 per week or $70.00 per day

3 and 4 years old, morning pre-kindergarten 8:30am – 1:00pm: $10.00/hr; minimum 6hr per week

Before and after elementary school program: $110.00 per week when school is in session.

Regular preschool rates apply to school holidays and vacations for school age children.

Multi-child discount: When 2 children from the same family are both enrolled year round, 5 full days per week, the fee for the lesser tuition is discounted  10%.  Parents must arrive in sufficient time to gather their child’s belongings and depart by 5:30pm. After hours care results in a charge of $15.00 per 15 minutes or fraction thereof. Parents arriving consistently late risk termination of enrollment. Other charges: A $20.00 fee is charged for overdue balances. There is a $35.00 charge for checks returned unpaid. The director reserves the right to terminate enrollment if payments are significantly overdue.

Vacation Policy: For children enrolled year-round, tuition may be reduced by 50% for a maximum of 1 week per calendar year for vacation time during which your child does not attend the center. Advance notice of vacations is appreciated. Because we hire and schedule our staff according to enrollment rather than attendance, we cannot reduce the fee when your child is absent for other than the one week vacation described above.

Tuition Payment Options: (please initial one choice)

Weekly: payment is due by Friday of the current week ____

Biweekly: payment is due on the 15^th and last business day of the month ____

Monthly: payment is due on or before the 15^th of the month

We reserve the right to change all fees and operating policies at any time. Parents will be provided with written notice of any changes.

Liability Waiver: I/We agree to the terms set forth in this document. I/We agree to comply with the operating policies as written in the Parents’ Handbook.  I am aware that child’s activities and play involves the risks of injury and freely assume those risks for my child(ren). I hereby release Roberge Day Care Center, Inc DBA, Roberge Early Learning Center,  from any legal liability and agree not to sue the owners, officers, directors and employees for any and all injuries caused by participation in the program. The child care fee at the time of enrollment will be ___________ per week. Enrollment of my child(ren) begins on ____________________.

__________________________________  __________  _____________________    _______

Parent or guardian signature                           date              Director, RDC, Inc.               date

Parent Handbook

Professional Early Childhood Education in a Non-Institutional Setting

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

Dear Parents:

Welcome to Roberge Early Learning Center! This handbook provides you with descriptions of our policies and procedures. A thorough understanding of both serves your children well in their early childhood experience. Outlines of our early childhood educational activities may be found posted each week under the programs heading on our website. Our teaching staff will be happy to discuss any topic in the handbook with you. Over the past three decades, we raised our own five children here and we hope to enroll families who value this early learning environment as well.

Sincerely,

John and Louise Donovan

Program Objectives

The center has established the following objectives, a mission statement if you will, to guide our programming. Our goal is to provide an environment which is enjoyable, healthful, and developmentally appropriate.

We expect our program to:

• encourage growth in all areas of child development
• Promote in every child a positive attitude toward life
• Provide an environment which is physically safe, emotionally secure and inviting
• Encourage children to learn from, cooperate with and be sensitive to the needs of other children
• Assist children in developing respect for authority and property
• Provide age-appropriate experiences for each child and to respect the child’s need to pursue personal interests, to make choices, to learn from experience, to develop a sense of identity as an individual and as a member of a group.

These experiences we provide are in accordance with Connecticut Department of Health Child Care Licensing Regulations and widely accepted early childhood teaching practices. We hope that these high quality standards assure parents that our staff is committed to providing the best quality early childhood educational experience possible, consistently and conscientiously.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

 

Parental Participation at Roberge:

The center has an open door policy for parents. Please feel free to come to the center anytime to participate in any part of your child’s day! We do ask that you give us written permission for anyone other than a parent to visit the center. If you are in the process of searching for child care, please make an appointment for your initial visit so that we may schedule a staff member to give you undivided attention. After your initial visit, you are welcome to visit anytime.

Our program strives to maintain consistency between home and the child care environment. To this end we ask each parent to provide us with written advice regarding each child’s recent daily routine, particular likes and dislikes, favorite activities, etc. Any information possible is welcome and allows us to more quickly get to know your child and meet his or her unique needs.

The entire staff is available throughout normal business hours to communicate with parents. This is particularly important at the start and end of each day. We will keep you informed about weekly curriculum themes, daily activities, special events, etc via email, our website and postings on parent information boards in each classroom. Parents of infants are encouraged to keep a diary of your child’s schedule which travels daily between home and the center. The infant staff will make entries which will give a great accounting of your child’s day including routine items such as feedings, naptimes and diapering as well as a narrative of learning activities. For our toddlers and preschoolers, weekly curriculum outlines and daily activity reports are provided.

We undertake toddler and preschool skill evaluations twice each year and invite parents to meet one-on one with the teaching staff to review the observations. Portfolios of the children’s work are kept throughout the year and aide in reviewing the skills observations.

Parents can assist the staff by calling in the morning when your child if your child will be absent. We also need you to keep us informed of any changes in normal arrival and departure times. This helps us to ensure that adequate staffing is scheduled. Of importance from a safety standpoint, is to keep your child’s registration information up to date. Any changes in employment, home address, telephone numbers and health information should be given in writing to the director.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

 

Learning Opportunities for children age 6 weeks to approximately 16 months

Emotional /Social Development

The most critical aspects of infant development, these two components help children achieve their potential and affect overall development. In our program socializing children comes first so interactions between care givers and child and also between children are given the highest priority throughout the day.

Language Development

Language development is an ongoing in and critical process in infancy. Care givers talk about everything with which the child interacts or is affected by, including the following activities:

Songs, audio stories, action songs, lullabies etc.

Finger and body plays, nursery rhymes and chants

Puppet play, toy animals

Doll play ( body parts identification, nurturing skills)

Small Motor Development (non-locomotive movement, use of hand and fingers, coordination)

Materials are chosen for practice with picking up, carrying, grasping, connecting and pulling objects apart, stretching, etc.

Balls of many sizes

Peg boards

Nesting toys (things that fit inside each other)

Chunky crayons, chalk, finger paints (older infants)

Practice with feeding oneself, holding a cup

Blocks of all sizes and shapes for stacking, sorting

Sensory materials

Large Motor (locomotive movement using large muscles to move body from place to place)

Walk behind toys, cubes for “cruising” between

Balls for rolling on, carrying

Boxes for climbing on, through, over

Baskets for carrying, filling, dumping out

Large, soft blocks and climbing mats

Blankets for hiding under, lifting, covering things

Outdoor infant swings, a carpeted deck and playground to explore

Sensory Development

Activities stimulate the five senses. It is the senses through which all learning occurs, so cognitive development (problem solving, intellectual development) is enhanced.

Sight: filled sensory bottles, colored cellophane mobiles, pictures, posters, photographs of children and families, colored water play, art media

Hearing: Sensory bottles, multi-cultural, diverse music and musical instruments, encouraging of sound imitation

Smell and Taste: We encourage parents to send along a variety of foods with differing taste, texture and smell. We’ll supply scented collages, flowers from our gardens, etc.

Touch: sensory carpets and fabrics, texture boards, tennis balls and feely socks, feather play, water play, cornstarch, etc.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

 

Toddler Program Objectives and typical Daily Schedule

Outlined below is the schedule for a typical day in out toddler group. Our child centered, process oriented approach ensures that the children are regarded as capable, loveable, individuals with unique needs and learning styles. Our structured learning activities are geared to as many as three different developmental age groups. A child at the younger end of the spectrum needs to be provided with an even more flexible schedule and is offered different learning opportunities from children closer to their 3^rd birthday. We can address each child’s needs and learning style independently even though they are part of a larger group. Generally each group of children will work with the same teacher every day which builds a bond between child and adult and helps the teaching staff to become expert in meeting the needs of every child. Transitional groups of infants moving up to the toddler group are often accompanied by the caregiver they have known previously. This practice makes for gentle, gradual and comfortable transitions. All our toddler teaching staff get cross-trained to work with our infants and often “loop” from one group to the other easing our children’s transitions.

6:30-9:00 Guided Play – Children and parents are greeted upon arrival; children facilitated by parents and staff choose activities in a large play area to begin the day.

9:00 Morning Snack Time – Nutritious snacks from home and juice provided by the center. Self-help skills are encouraged. Language development component includes songs, stories, finger plays are shared to build receptive and expressive vocabulary skills.

9:30 Diapering / Toileting – Toddlers in the process of toilet training are assisted by staff and praised for success.

10:00-11:30 Learning Centers – The program areas are divided and enriched to provide quiet or active learning experiences. Music, Movement, Sensory, Social Play and process (not product) oriented art activities are offered based on the weekly curriculum outline. Children move as small groups from one activity area to the next alternating active and calming activities. Outdoor time weather permitting.

11:30 Lunch Time! – As with morning snack time, we take advantage of this time to promote skills involving independence, good hygiene and nutrition habits, and appropriate meal time behavior and language development.

12:00 Diapering / Toileting / Preparation for Rest Time – While children take turns being changed or using the bathroom, others are engaged with sharing books or manipulative toys or listening to quiet music. Older toddler are encouraged to practice appropriate dressing skills such as placing shoes and personal items in their appropriate places (cubbies, coats hooks, lunch boxes to the refrigerator, cups to the dishwasher etc.)

1:00 Rest Time – Children rest or sleep on cots while listening to soothing music.

2:30 – 3:00 – Transition from rest time – As children awake, they are offered individual attention from the staff. There’s time to enjoy a snack and juice, address each child’s emotional needs, change diapers and use the toilet.

3:00-6:00 – Guided Play – Small groups use learning areas (indoor and outdoor) for activities which enhance the morning’s structured activities or reinforce the curriculum theme.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

 

Pre-Kindergarten Program Overview

What and How We Teach children 3 years – 5 years

Fifty Key Experiences:

These fifty key experiences described on the following pages form the foundation of the learning goals for our preschool program. The child directed, child initiated approach allows for all learning styles, levels, abilities and interests to be served. It takes into account the theory of “multiple intelligences”, a theory that states that individuals learn best in different ways. Some are auditory learners, others sensory learners, others visual learners, etc. The teacher’s role in this environment is as an observer and facilitator in order to insure that the child dictates his / her own learning in an appropriately enriched environment. Combining this teaching approach with a central weekly or bi-weekly theme allows for the introduction of new ideas, the presentation of ideas in various ways and to vary equipment, materials and resources. Our teachers challenge the child to look at the world with curiosity and inquisitiveness. We endeavor to make the most of those spontaneously occurring “teachable moments” when a child’s interest is piqued about any topic.

Time Frame for a Typical Day

6:30 – 9:00 Greeting/ Spontaneous Play

 

9:00-9:15 Morning Circle – Calendar skills, weather observations, theme related songs, sign language, story sharing ( a chance for the children to bring up whatever is on their mind).

9:15 – 9:30 Snack Time – As the children enjoy nutritious snacks from home we can practice self help skills and introduce the day’s activities.

9:30 – 10:15 Small Group Time – One or more teacher directed activities designed to introduce one of the “key experiences” (listed next pages).

10:15 – 10:30 – Music and Movement – Time to get up and move: an opportunity to develop large motor fitness, coordination and flexibility. We use everything from a parachute to ball games, dancing and other group games.

10:30 – 11:15 Learning Centers – children get together with the teaching staff and make a verbal plan to visit the learning centers. Here they work on more “key experiences”. During this child-directed portion of the morning, teaching staff circulate among the centers facilitating the children’s plans, helping to direct traffic and keep children on task for a reasonable amount of time before they switch centers. Teaching staff leads a “recall” time at the end of this period or during lunch to review all the events of the morning.

11:15 – noon Outdoor Play (weather permitting)

Noon to 12:30 – Lunch Time – Again we practice self help skills and appropriate table behavior. Everyone has a job such as setting out chairs, placing cups and silverware, bringing dishes to the kitchen etc.

12:30 Group Story Time – Literature is chosen to compliment the curriculum theme or current life experiences.

1:00 – Rest Time – An opportunity to recharge our batteries through sleep, rest or quiet activities.

2:30 – Afternoon Snack Time– More informal opportunity to refuel and socialize as each child finishes their rest.

3:00 – closing – Indoor / Outdoor Guided Play – Child directed activities with teachers facilitating play and communicating wit parents about each child’s day before departure.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

 

Pre-Kindergarten Program Page 2

Key Experiences in Active Learning

• Discovering relations through direct experiences
• Manipulating, transforming and combining materials
• Choosing materials, activities and purposes
• Acquiring skills with tools and equipment

Key Experiences Using Language

• Talking with others about personally meaningful experiences
• Describing objects, events and relationships
• Having one’s own spoken language written down and read back by an adult
• Expressing feelings with words
• Having fun with language: rhyming, making up stories, listening to poetry and stories

Key Experiences in Representing Experiences and Ideas

• Recognizing objects by sound, touch, taste and smell
• Imitating actions
• Relating pictures, photographs and models to real places and things
• Role playing and pretending
• Making models out of clay, blocks, recycled materials, etc.
• Drawing and painting

Key Experiences in Developing Logical Reasoning

Classification

• Investigating and labeling the attributes of things
• Noticing and describing how things are the same and how they are different
• Sorting and matching
• Using and describing something in several different ways
• Describing what characteristics something does not possess or what class it does not belong to
• Holding more than one attribute in mind at a time e.g. “Can you find something that is red and made of wood?”
• Distinguishing between “some” and “all”

Seriation

*Comparing: Which is bigger (smaller), heavier (lighter), rougher (smoother), louder (softer), wider (narrower), sharper, darker, etc.

* Arranging several things in order along some dimension and describing the relations above

 

 

 

Number concepts

• Comparing the number of items in two sets by matching them up in one to one correspondence e.g. “Are there as many chairs as there are people?”
• Enumerating (counting) objects, as well as counting by rote (listing out loud)
• Roberge Early Learning Center
• Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

Key Experiences in Understanding Time and Space

Spatial Relations

• Fitting things together
• Manipulating one object in space i.e. folding, twisting, stretching, taking it apart
• Rearranging a set of objects ( nesting, stacking, tying) and observing the spatial transformations

Observing things and places from different spatial viewpoints:

• Experiencing and describing the positions of things in relation to each other e.g. in the middle of, on the side of, off, on, under, etc
• Experiencing and describing the direction of movement of things and people ( to, from, out of, toward, away from, etc.
• Experiencing and describing the relative distances between things and locations ( close, near, far, next to, apart, together)
• Experiencing and representing one’s own body: how it is structures, what various body parts can do
• Learning to locate things in the classroom, school building, and neighborhood
• Interpreting representations of spatial relations in drawings and pictures including maps
• Distinguishing and describing shapes

Time

• Planning and completing what one has planned
• Describing and representing past events
• Anticipating future events verbally and by making appropriate preparations
• Starting and stopping an action on signal
• Noticing, describing and representing the order of events
• Experiencing and describing different rates of movement
• Using conventional time units when talking about past and future events (this morning, yesterday)
• Comparing time periods (short, long, old, new, a little while, a long time)
• Observing that clocks and calendars are used to mark the passage of time, seasons

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

Roberge’s health and medication policies are designed to minimize your child’s suffering from illness as well as to reduce the overall amount of time lost from school and work, by reducing the risk of passing illness from one child to the next.

Connecticut Department of Health Child Care Licensing Regulations requires that no child be admitted to a licensed center when he or she is suspected of having a communicable illness. These may include fever, diarrhea, rash, new coughs, nasal discharge and/or other symptoms. The purpose of the regulation is to reduce the risk of infection to or from other children and adults in the setting. The regulations further require that when a child exhibits symptoms of illness while at the center, he/she must be isolated from the rest of the population and the parent must remove the child from the center as soon as possible. Children should be symptom free for 24 hours before returning to the center. If the child is treated by a physician, please ask for a note indicating when it is recommended that the child may return to the center and fully participate in all activities. Present this note to the center Director or Head Teacher upon return.

The policy on administering medications is as follows:

We will only administer medication after a child no longer poses a risk of infection to other children, parents and staff. The child must have recovered sufficiently to participate in normal daily activity while being supervised in groups with the DPH mandated ratios of staff to children. These ratios are one adult for every four children under the age of three years and or one adult for every ten children over the age of three years. In general only prescription medications will be administered. Other medications (e.g. for teething pain) will be administered at the discretion of the center director.

Connecticut State Law Requires:

“a physician’s written order and a parent or guardian written authorization for a nurse to administer medications or in the absence of a nurse, the child care center director or teacher to administer medications.”

Medications must be in the original pharmacy prepared containers, labeled with the child’s name, name f the medication, strength, dosage and frequency, physician’s name and date of original prescription. Written authorization forms are available at your physician’s office and at the center. No medication will be administered by Roberge Day Care Center, Inc staff without all of the above conditions met in full.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

Behavior Policy

Insuring a complete understanding and commitment to the center’s behavior policy is part of each staff member’s new hire orientation and training. The policy is reviewed annually with all staff members. This policy is also discussed with parents when they first visit the center and again upon enrollment. The policy is posted at the center for all to review at any time.

The policy for children’s behavior and staff response is as follows:

• Response to inappropriate behavior by children shall be handled in a positive manner that maintains respect for all. The aim will be to redirect the child from conflict to an appropriate resolution. Role modeling of appropriate behavior is provided by the staff for the children. We believe this to be paramount to the learning of social and safety skills.

When a child is not responsive to the efforts at redirection and modeling to correct inappropriate behavior, there may be a need for separation from the person or activity group with who he or she is in conflict. Staff will maintain visual and auditory supervision of the child at all times. For our purposes the child will remain separated from the group for no longer than it takes for the distressed child to calm to the point at which communication is accepted. The purpose of the separation is not punishment, but to allow time for emotions to level out and / or to reinforce the idea that the child’s behavior was unacceptable. Brief discussion, not lecturing, of the reason for the conflict is required between the child, supervising staff person and the child(ren) affected upon return.

• If inappropriate behaviors are chronic, the parents are consulted and an effort made to insure that the behaviors are handled consistently by all involved staff members and family members. A reasonable amount of time is allowed for the behavior(s) to improve. Subsequently, the director will make an evaluation and if it is determined that the behavior interferes with the quality or safety of the program, parents may be asked to withdraw the child from the center in order to place him or her in a more appropriate child care setting in which the child can be successful.
• Children are always reassured after conflict that he/she is still loved and that only the behavior was unacceptable.
• Positive reinforcement will be used liberally to highlight appropriate behavior and to build a child’s self confidence and respect.
• There will be no use of corporal punishment at any time.
• No child will be humiliated or verbally abused

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

 

Accident / Incident Reports

The practice of Roberge staff will be to make written reports whenever a child gets injured while in our care and if the child arrives at the center with an apparent injury. There is no DPH regulation defining when an accident report needs to be completed, only that the center has a system in place for informing parents of accidents and injuries. We will always contact the parent immediately if the injury resulted from a blow to the head, foreign object in the eye (e.g. playground sand), a bite from another child that breaks the skin, insect sting or bite or any injury which we suspect may require further medical follow-up. In cases where immediate professional medical attention is required a telephone call will be made to the parent after emergency services are contacted. Less serious injuries such as minor abrasions incurred during normal indoor/outdoor activity will be treated and passed on to the parents via a written accident report attached to the daily attendance log. It is likely that during the often quick pace of arrival and departure verbal communication may get neglected. Hence, written accident reports requiring a parent’s signature provide a more reliable means.

Child Abuse and Neglect Policy

You have entrusted your child’s day time care to the professional child care staff of this program. We are committed to providing you with the best and most appropriate cognitive and social learning experiences for your child. Occasionally, we may observe factors in a child’s appearance and behavior that may lead to concerns of abuse or neglect. Connecticut law mandates all child care providers including the staff of this center, to report suspected abuse or neglect to the proper authorities: The Department of Children and Families or the local Police Department, in order that the child may be protected from harm and that the family may be helped.

Our policy is to adhere to Connecticut Law. Our intent at all times is to protect your children from harm and to provide access to services to strengthen the family. Should you have any questions regarding this policy please discuss them with the center Director. Please be assured of our continuous interest and concern for the education, health and safety of the children in our care.

Roberge Early Learning Center

Child Care, Pre-Kindergarten, Before & After School Care

Miscellaneous request, helpful hints and other information regarding your choice of Roberge Day Care Center, Inc:

• All Roberge staff spend at least 1% of their scheduled work hours annually engaged in continuing educational opportunities in Early Childhood Education. All Head Teachers are certified by the State of Connecticut Department of Health. All staff members will have the educational credentials and work experience and personal attributes commensurate to their position at the center.

• Please dress your child appropriately for indoor and year round outdoor activity.

• Please keep an extra full set of clothing at the center in case of accident, spill, etc. Despite our best efforts including painting smocks and protective gear, our activities can be quite messy!

• Please read information we send home. Ignorance does not create bliss for any of us!

• Pack healthy snacks and lunches! Nutritious foods cost the same or less than “junk foods”. Your child will thank you for it in the long run!

• Don’t hesitate to call or drop in unannounced to see how your child is doing. As parents ourselves, we would!

• Please understand that arrival and departure times can be difficult transitions for children. Make time to say your good-byes in the morning. Don’t rush off! It may seem obvious but always reassure your child that you will return. Maintaining consistent arrival and departure routines help your child develop the trust they need to feel comfortable throughout their day.

• Please leave your child’s belongings at home. It’s more difficult for toddlers and preschoolers to share their personal belongings. Some items we have seen just are not safe or appropriate for a child care setting.       When we have “sharing times” we’ll let you know.

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