Early Learning Program

The Child Development Centre is proud to provide the community of Fort St. John with a fully integrated preschool program that specializes in serving children with both typical and special needs.  Our Early Learning Program is offered to children between the ages of 3 to 5 years.  We operate two classrooms that run 8 different class sessions with a total capacity of 128 children.  Our highly trained staff has a wealth of experience working with children and families.  Each classroom has one Early Learning program teacher (Early Childhood Educator), one Early Learning Program Assistant and support workers.

Our registration is completed through a waitlist process.  All children are offered a space in our classes via our ongoing waitlist.  ELP teachers will phone chronologically from this list and offer families a space in our program.  A child can be place on our waitlist any time after they are born by simply phoning the CDC and requesting that your child be placed on our list. 

Creative Curriculum

In our 2008/09 school session we implemented the use of a new curriculum, Creative Curriculum.  This curriculum identifies goals in four key areas of development, they are:

Social Emotional: to help children develop independence, self confidence and self control, follow rules and routines, make friends and learn what it means to be part of the group/community.

Physical: to increase children’s large muscle skills, balancing, running, jumping, throwing and catching and use the small muscles in their hands to do tasks like buttoning, stringing beads, cutting, drawing and writing. 

Cognitive: to acquire thinking skills such as the ability to solve problems, to ask questions, and to think logically, sorting, classifying, comparing, counting and making patterns and to use materials and their imagination to show what they have learned.

Language: to use words to communicate with others, listen to and participate in conversations with others, understand the purpose of print, recognize letters and words and begin writing for a purpose.

The most important goals of the curriculum are for children to get along well with others and become enthusiastic learners. We want children to become independent, self-confident, curious learners who can work well with others. We’re teaching them how to learn, not just in preschool, but all through their lives. We do this by creating purposeful and productive play experiences that help children grow in all areas.

Through the activities we plan and the way we organize the classroom, select toys and material, plan the daily schedule, and talk with children, we seek to accomplish the goals of our curriculum and give your child a successful start in school.