A Note From Your Child Care Leadership Team
Your YMCA believes in creating safe and welcoming spaces for all. We believe there is no place for racism and intolerance, and we're committed to listening, learning and making the changes needed to make this a reality.
A UNIFIED MESSAGE FROM THE YMCAs OF CAMBRIDGE & KW, GUELPH AND STRATFORD-PERTH
Hello Families,
It’s been a whirlwind of a month, and we wanted to take a moment to provide you with a comprehensive summary of important child care information. This is a long note, but we wanted it to serve as “a one place to look” for much of the ever-evolving information that’s been coming out.
First, from the senior leadership at of Three Rivers Child Care – thank you. For more than a year, you’ve worked with us as we’ve navigated these rapidly changing situations. Despite the disruption and upset these various announcements may have caused your family, your kindness, compassion, and understanding, both for one another and for our teams within our centres has been greatly appreciated.
Extended School Age Child Care Closure As was announced on Monday, April 12, the Ministry of Education and Premier Doug Ford have closed in-person learning indefinitely. As a result, our School Age (Before and After School) programming is canceled until in-person learning resumes. You will not be charged fees for this closure. Our full-day child care (Infant, Toddler and Preschool) remains open.
Emergency Child Care We are happy to share that we are once again working alongside our municipal partners to offer Emergency Child Care in various centres. To learn if your family qualifies for School Age Emergency Child Care, please follow the regional links below for more details.
Guelph-Wellington
Waterloo Region
Stratford-Perth Please contact the City of Stratford Early Years Coordinator at 519-247-3773 ext 404
Continued COVID-19 Safety Measures We’d also like to take a moment to remind families of the importance of following our increased COVID-19 safety measures. These efforts meet and/or exceed local public health unit recommendations, and are in place to help limit the transmission of COVID-19 in our centres:
- Monitor and screen your child for symptoms of COVID-19 using the COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool daily.
- Parents/Guardians are asked to wear masks for drop off/pick up at all our centres.
- If your child or any member of your family develops symptoms of COVID-19 you should immediately isolate from others and follow the guidance in the screening tool.
- If your child develops any COVID-19 symptoms throughout the day, you will receive a call to come pick up your child from our centre. At pick up we’ll provide you with any further information, and ask you to follow Public Health expectations on next steps.
- Please continue to practice good hand hygiene habits with your child at home.
- And, if you have further questions, please reach out to your local public health unit
We remain committed to following our increased safety measures including daily screening, cohoroting groups, increased cleaning, and wearing PPE (among others).
New Provincial Funding Support On March 31, the Province announced that they are increasing support for parents through a new Ontario COVID-19 Child Benefit. You can learn more about this support here.
Asymptomatic Testing Our local school boards have determined that children registered in child cares associated with their buildings are now able to access asymptomatic testing. The details for each local school board are below. Note, this is optional and at your family’s decision. It is NOT a requirement for your child attending a YMCA Child Care.
Here is the specific message from each school board:
*In Stratford-Perth, there is a specific testing clinic available for students/staff from some schools on April 17, and there is a Shoppers Drug Mart location in Stratford that will also offer asymptomatic testing (here is the link for that).
Believe it or not, this marks the end of what we promised was a long series of updates. We remain committed to sharing information with you as soon as it becomes available. Again, we appreciate that the realities of COVID-19 continue to increase stress and uncertainty, and we so appreciate the understanding and kindness you’ve demonstrated. You have demonstrated that we truly are stronger together. Please continue to take care of yourself and one another.
Stay healthy and well,
Kim, Lianne, and Terri, on behalf of the YMCA of Three Rivers Child Care Team
We’re here for good.
YMCA Child Care. We’re here for good.
A UNIFIED MESSAGE FROM THE YMCAs OF CAMBRIDGE & KW, GUELPH AND STRATFORD-PERTH
- All licensed child care centres across our regions continue to operate under COVID-19 guidelines
- All Before and After School programming is cancelled until in-person learning returns
- Daily COVID-19 screening of all children and staff prior to entering and throughout the day
- Physical distancing practices supported by both the setup of spaces and delivery of programs
- Use of required PPE by all staff, and enforced use of children as required by local school boards and Public Health units
Resources
Where We’re at Currently
Our Caregiver Handbook provides you with an overview of the YMCA of Three Rivers Child Care programming, including operational details.
For up to date screening information, please review the Ministry of Education screening tool.