A day at our centre, hour by hour

The day has a fixed shape and it does not move. Doors at 7:30 a.m., free play, circle time, outside, lunch, nap, snack, then the afternoon block of dance, music and art. The day ends at 5:30 p.m., with extended care available to 7:00 p.m.

Children settle faster into a routine they can predict. That is the reason for the fixed structure, and it is the reason we publish it in full rather than describing it in general terms.

The day at a glance

Time	Block
7:30 a.m.	Doors open
7:30 to 9:30	Free play
9:15 to 10:15	Circle time
10:30 to 11:45	Outdoor play and group activities
12:00 to 12:50	Lunch
1:00 to 3:00	Nap time
3:10 to 4:00	Snack
4:00 to 5:00	Dance, music, arts and crafts, free play
5:30 p.m.	End of day, with extended care to 7:00 p.m.

The blocks overlap slightly because the three groups do not all move at once. One group is finishing free play while another is starting circle time.

Arrival, and the person at the door

A designated educator or the centre administrator welcomes families each morning, takes any update from you, and helps your child into the classroom.

That handover at the door is doing more work than it looks. It is where we find out that your child slept badly, that a grandparent is collecting today, that there is a new baby at home, or that the morning has already been difficult. Any of those changes how the first hour is handled.

7:30 is when the doors open, not a required arrival time. Arriving before circle time is easier on your child than walking into the middle of a group activity, but plenty of families arrive later than that and it is not a problem when we know it is coming.

Free play, and why the first two hours are unstructured

The day starts with free play on purpose, not because nothing is planned yet.

Children arrive across a two hour window, in wildly different states. One has been awake since five. One is still half asleep. One has had a hard goodbye and needs ten minutes before they can join anything. A structured activity at 7:45 would work for whoever happened to be in the room and nobody else.

Free play also lets educators watch. Who is playing with whom this week, what a child has just started being able to do, who is avoiding the block corner. Much of what an educator tells you at pick-up was noticed in this block.

Circle time

The first properly structured part of the day. Songs, stories, the calendar, and whatever theme the group is working through.

This is also where the language programs live most visibly. French, Mandarin and English run as separate programs here rather than being mixed into one group, so that educators can give focused, age-appropriate instruction in the chosen language. Teacher Clara leads French. Teachers Anita and Beth lead Mandarin. Teachers Lana and Victoria lead English. Each of those educators speaks two or more languages, and assignments can change with scheduling.

Outdoor play and group activities

Generally one to two hours outdoors a day, depending on weather, air quality and the schedule.

One thing to be clear about, because plenty of centres take the opposite approach: we do not take children on walks or outside during rainy or snowy weather. On those days the educators run indoor movement and gross-motor activities instead. If an all-weather outdoor program is what you want, that is a real difference and a fair reason to choose a different centre.

When the yard is in use it is used properly. Seasonal water play and hands-on messy play both happen, actively supervised, with clear boundaries and age-appropriate materials, and they stop if conditions stop being safe.

Lunch

Families provide all meals and snacks. The centre does not provide meals or plan a menu, so what arrives in the lunch box is what your child eats.

Food should be labelled and portioned for your own child's age, appetite, allergies and dietary needs. Everything that comes in has to follow the nut-free policy, which applies to every family in the building rather than only to families whose own child has an allergy.

Nap

From 1:00 to 3:00, in a designated nap area on individual sleeping mats, with the fitted cover and blanket that families provide.

Children who no longer nap still get a rest period, and then do calm table activities such as reading, puzzles or drawing with an educator supervising. There is a longer piece on how that works in naps at daycare.

Snack, then the afternoon block

Snack from 3:10, then the part of the day most children would name as their favourite: dance, music, arts and crafts, and free play until the end of the day.

The instruments are drums, tambourines, rhythm sticks, shakers, bells and xylophones, with educators guiding safe use while children explore rhythm, sound and movement.

Holiday-themed artwork usually goes home the same day. Other pieces may be displayed here first, then returned to families or collected into a personalised art book.

Pick-up, and the conversation there

Pick-up is where you find out about the day. An educator tells you how it went: what your child did, who they played with, how they ate, how they slept, anything that would help you at home that evening.

There are no written progress reports on a fixed schedule here. If you want a longer conversation than the doorway allows, ask for a private meeting and we will arrange one, and you can ask at any time rather than waiting to be offered.

The three groups, and the staffing behind them

Children are typically organised into three groups across three classrooms, by age, developmental needs and daily attendance. Each group has a designated educator, with additional educators supporting throughout the centre. Generally four to five educators are present each day.

Staff-to-child ratios required by licensing are met at all times. Those ratios are set in Schedule E of the Child Care Licensing Regulation and they vary by care type: a multi-age group is capped at eight children, while group child care for 30 months to school age allows larger groups with more staff. The full table is in our guide to ratios and group sizes.

When an educator is away sick, coverage comes from another qualified educator or an approved substitute. Assignments may shift on those days, and the ratios still have to be met.

Extended care and weekends

Extended care runs from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. for families whose commute makes the regular end of day difficult.

Weekend play-care runs in three session shapes: morning from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., afternoon from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., or a full day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Both need arranging with us rather than assuming, because space and staffing have to be confirmed.

What the schedule does not tell you

Three things a timetable cannot show, and they are worth asking any centre about.

How long the transitions take. The gap between blocks is where a day is either calm or chaotic. Twenty-four children moving from outside to lunch is a different operation from four children doing it. Ask what happens in those ten minutes as well as what happens in the hour either side.

What happens when a child is not doing what the block says. A child who will not come in from the yard, or who is not hungry at noon, or who is upset at three in the afternoon. Every centre has a schedule. What separates them is the answer to that question.

How much of it is fixed for a child and how much is fixed for the room. Here the structure is fixed and the child's place in it is not. A child who needs to eat earlier eats earlier. A child who is still asleep at three stays asleep.

A first week inside this shape

New children do not start with a full day of it, unless that is what suits them.

Settling in is flexible and tailored to each child. Where it helps, a family begins with shorter visits and builds up gradually until the child is comfortable with the whole day. There is no fixed number of days for that, and we will not invent one.

In practice, most short first days end before or after nap, because those are the two natural break points in this schedule. Ending at eleven means a morning of free play, circle time and the yard, which is the easiest part of the day to join. Ending at three means the child has done a nap here, which is usually the hardest single thing to get right in a new place.

Which of those two you aim at first is worth a conversation before the start date rather than on the morning itself.

Frequently asked questions

What time does your centre open and close?

Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with extended care available until 7:00 p.m. We also run weekend play-care on Saturdays and Sundays in morning, afternoon or full-day sessions.

What is the daily schedule at your daycare?

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. for free play, circle time runs mid-morning, then outdoor play and group activities before lunch at noon. Nap follows from 1:00 to 3:00, then snack, then dance, music, arts and crafts and free play until the end of the day at 5:30.

How many educators are with the children each day?

Generally four to five educators are present each day. Each group has a designated educator with others supporting across the centre, and the staff-to-child ratios required by licensing are met at all times.

Are children split into groups by age?

Children are typically organised into three groups across three classrooms, arranged by age, developmental needs and daily attendance. The grouping is not purely by birthday, because who is actually in on a given day changes the shape of it.

Can I drop my child off later than 7:30 a.m.?

Yes. 7:30 is when the doors open, not a required arrival time. It helps us if you arrive before circle time so your child is not walking into a group activity, and it helps more if you tell us when to expect a late arrival.

What happens if I am late for pick-up?

Call us. Extended care runs until 7:00 p.m., so there is usually room to arrange something, but it needs to be arranged rather than assumed. Ratios and staffing have to be covered for any time your child is on site.

What is extended care and how late does it run?

Extended care is the block after the regular day ends at 5:30 p.m., running until 7:00 p.m. It suits families whose commute makes a 5:30 pick-up difficult. Contact us about arranging it, either regularly or occasionally.

Does the schedule change from day to day?

The structure stays the same every day, which is the point of it. What changes inside the blocks is the activity, the weather, and what the children are interested in that week. Outdoor time in particular depends on weather and air quality.

Before you visit

A schedule on a page tells you the shape of a day. Standing in the room at half past ten tells you what it feels like, which is the part that actually decides things.

We are at 1103 Confederation Drive in the Citadel neighbourhood of Port Coquitlam. The same schedule is on our schedule page, the rooms are on our centre, and the educators named above are on our team. Tours are by appointment and take about thirty minutes, so tell us when suits you.