Rendering of Queens Daycare expansion courtesy Well Engineered Inc.

It appears Queens new daycare building will be in place before enough staff are found.

The planning and design phase of the new annex is complete and permits are in place to break ground this fall.

The addition of the 3,800 square foot annex will nearly double the daycare’s existing 4,000 square feet allowing the facility to increase the number of children it can support from 42 to 91.

Chair of the Queens Daycare Association Scott Christian says the $2 million investment from the provincial government will mean a new facility tailored to the needs of a daycare.

However, finding qualified Early Childhood Educators will be more challenging.

Christian says with waitlists in the three streams of infant, pre-primary and afterschool care it will take time to find staff to allow them to reach their capacity.

“There’s going to be a lot of excitement around this,” said Christian. “We have this big, new shiny building. The reality is we’re not going to be able to flip a switch and welcome 90 children into our program.”

Christian says the issue is that many initiatives are only now coming online and it could be several years before today’s students are ready for the workforce.

“The requirement is that two-thirds of your staff need to be certified ECEs and the reality is that the labour force does not exist right now,” said Christian. “The province is doing wonderful things in terms of working with the colleges, working with Mount St. Vincent University to really ramp up those programs and the capacity of those programs to be churning out ECEs.”

The entire daycare project, managed by Well Engineered Inc. out of Dartmouth will be completed in two phases, construction of the annex then renovation of the existing school building.

Christian says they expect to welcome children into a fully expanded and renovated Queens Daycare by December 2023.

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Queens County Daycare. Photo Ed Halverson

Queens County Daycare in Liverpool will more than double the number of available childcare spaces over the next year.

The funding is coming as part of the $29 million being invested in childcare across Nova Scotia by the federal government under the Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement that will see the creation of 1,500 new childcare spaces across the province by the end of the year.

Chair of the Queens County Daycare Association Scott Christian says the $2 million they receive will bring big changes including the construction of a new wing, renovating the existing building, and hiring new staff.

Once that work is complete the facility can add 49 new spaces on top of the existing 42 (which excludes the eight infant care spaces).

Christian says he has seen a huge shift in attitude from the provincial government around early childhood learning over the last number of years.

“I’m excited that the province is recognizing that it’s their responsibility,” said Christian. “That the education and development of children doesn’t become the province’s responsibility when they’re five-years-old and enter primary, that it’s earlier than that. They want to be part of the solution and so do we.”

Christian says the funding will bring changes to their home in the former Mount Pleasant School that will make it more suitable to care for pre-school aged children.

He says accessible washrooms and a kitchen are at the top of the list of improvements coming to the daycare.

Managing the timeline is key as the plan is to complete construction on the new 3,500 square foot annex so the children can be relocated before renovations begin on the existing building.

“The whole juggling act is that there can be no disruption of services.”

Christian recognizes from coming up with a design to obtaining permits to hiring a contractor, there’s a lot to do in a very short amount of time.

Still, he is optimistic construction will begin in the fall and a fresh group of young people will be joining Queens County Daycare when the work is done.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Interior of the new infant care facility at Queens Daycare. Photo Ed Halverson

Parents of infants in Queens have a childcare option for the very first time.

The Queens Daycare Association officially opened their infant care centre for children as young as four months old on Tuesday.

Chair of the association’s board of directors Scott Christian says he knows from personal experience how essential the service will be for families who are new to Queens.

“I’m new to the community, I’ve only lived here for five years and I asked people, where do infants go? Where does your baby go when you needed to go back to work? It’s largely, that gap is filled by grandma or an aunt or uncle or a close family friend. But outside of that there’s really no opportunities,” said Christian.

The association began applying for grants in 2017 to build the $400,000 infant care facility.

The work was completed though a $250,000 grant received from the province and $150,000 in private donations.

Toys wait for kids in the new play area. Photo Ed Halverson

Already, three of the eight available infant spaces are filled and Christian expects now that the doors are open the remaining spots will be snapped up.

Queens Daycare Association is also licensed to provide care for 42 children in their afterschool, toddler and pre-school programs and there are almost another 40 on a waitlist to get in.

Christian says the need for licensed childcare in Queens is obvious.

“There were other facilities in the community who got out of it because of how challenging it is to be solvent. There’s really no opportunity for for-profit childcare in rural communities, so it’s up to non-profits like ours in the charitable sector to step in,” said Christian.

Scott Christian (center) cuts the ribbon to officially open the centre as board members and invited guests look on. Photo Ed Halverson

The proverbial paint is barely dry and already Christian says the association is looking to expand.

“We are the sole provider of licensed childcare in the community and with a waitlist like that and with the demographic trends, with so many new families moving to the area and properties being bought up, and whatnot, we know that there’s just going to be an increase in need for it.”

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Queens County Daycare. Photo Ed Halverson

The Queens County Daycare Association is turning to the Region of Queens for help to keep the doors open.

Association Chair Scott Christian appeared at Region of Queens council to ask the municipality for financial help of $50,000 this year and $30,000 over each of the next three years.

Christian says since taking ownership of the building from the municipality the association has burned through much of their cash reserves.

“We need to figure out how to get some revenue injected into the daycare right now so that we can meet our financial obligations and get the projects complete so that we can expand our services on the infant care side,” said Christian.

The daycare has lost most of the four-year olds who would normally be enrolled to the provincial pre-primary program.

In an attempt to make up for that revenue, the association is building capacity to begin infant care for children 18 months and younger.

Christian says the province has identified the need for those spaces and has contributed $250,000 towards the construction of a new infant care building on the daycare site.

Unfortunately for the association, that construction is over budget and they still need to contend with the upkeep on the old daycare building.

The association went from being a tenant to owners of the former Mount Pleasant school when they bought the building for one dollar from the region.

Christian says the list of repairs included the roof, windows and replacing a collapsed septic field.

Prior to buying the building, the association had $130,000 in reserves, and without additional funding, Christian says that money may not get them through the summer.

Christian says the provincial funding model doesn’t make sense for a non-profit daycare in rural Nova Scotia.

A statement from the department of education and early childhood development says private childcare centres in Nova Scotia have been given access to additional funding since 2017 to help them transition their business model to adapt to the introduction of the pre-primary program.

The province spends $11.6 million each year on professional development for early childhood educators and has provided about $30 million in COVID-related funding on top of about $25 million in regular financial support to childcare operators and staff.

Christian says the daycare is grateful for the support but it is not enough to meet their $400,000 operation costs.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Christian. “The numbers don’t add up. We receive $98,000 right now in provincial funding and you’d have to increase that by at least $50,000 per annum for it to be sustainable for us.”

Despite the bleak numbers, Christian says the association remains optimistic. He says the community recognizes the importance of the daycare.

Christian has already heard from some members of the business community who are willing to step up but that they are looking to see the municipality come to the plate first.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman says council will look into the association’s request as part of their budget deliberations over the next month.

In the meantime, Christian says parents needn’t worry about where they will send their children.

“We’re going to make this work, don’t need to worry about the thing closing. It could close in the summer, but it’s not going to, because the board is going to fight like hell and because something’s gotta give.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.