This page explains a little bit about our background and child care philosophy. Click on a link to learn more about:

• why choose Emmanuel for your child?
• our licensed facility
• our philosophy
• experiencing the community
• our multi-cultural environment
• our intergenerational texture
• our physical environment.

Why Choose Emmanuel?

Having been in operation since 1964, we pride ourselves in our commitment to quality child care. But don't take our word for it. Visit our What Others Say page to hear from other parents, past parents and people in our community.

• For more information about our child development centre, visit Our Staff and Our Programs pages. 
• Visit the The Daycare Search page, which describes some of the questions you should ask potential child care centres. 
• For questions and answers about Emmanuel, visit our Question & Answers page.

A Safe, Licensed Facility

Our child development centre has a licensed capacity of 115 spaces. Our programs are licensed by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. The centre has a Purchase of Service Agreement with the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and was registered as a charitable organization in 1996. The centre is open at any time for visitation with or without an appointment. For more information about our licensing and evaluation procedures, see our discussion about evaluation.

Our Philosophy

Our child development centre supports and assists the child's physical, emotional, social and intellectual well-being and development. We work in concert with families to deliver a high quality standard of child development programming.

Experiencing the Community

Our child development centre, because of its long history of service, is an integral part of uptown Waterloo. We take full advantage of activities in our environment. Outings include: skating bowling plays at the University of Waterloo trips to banks, restaurants, grocery stores, the police station, fire departments, the local library, Waterloo Park, and St. Jacob's Country Play House farm tours. We also get biweekly visits from a local librarian and visitors from the community to enhance our themes.

Our Multicultural Environment

It is important for an Early Childhood Education program to acknowledge, respect and support diversity of race, culture, language and religion as part of natural every day experiences. It is desirable for the program to reflect the background of all children in the program and a multicultural Canadian society in general. For more information, see our discussion about Multi-culturalism.

Intergenerational Texture

Many young families today do not live close to their extended families. For this reason, there is an intergenerational component to our program. We encourage senior citizens to visit and become "Grandma and Grandpa" readers. This activity occurs on a one-to-one basis and is a delightful part of our program.

Our Physical Environment

Located within Brighton School, our child development centre offers several benefits for children including:

• a large gym, equipped with riding toys, climbers, playmats and climbers
• a separate lunch room
• large classrooms with lots of natural sunlight
• two washrooms equipped with small toilets and child-sized sink areas
• two fenced outside playgrounds.