Have questions? We have answers.
Tours & Waitlist
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Yes! We offer several ways for families to visit our programs, depending on location and age group.
Book a tour online for Northriver JK, Heron JK, Heron Toddlers or Southlands Toddlers
Register for an Open House at any of our locations
School-Aged Programs (Heron): Tours are coordinated directly with the Program Managers. Please email registration@ssocc.ca to arrange a visit.
We look forward to welcoming you and showing you our learning spaces.
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Yes. Our Parent Handbook is shared with families once a child has been offered a space in one of our programs. It provides detailed information about daily routines, policies, and what to expect as part of the SSOCC community.
You can read our current parent handbook here.
If you have specific questions, we’re always happy to help—please reach out to registration@ssocc.ca
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Our Managers are also full time teachers - and the program manager will typically run a tour or open house. However, after accepting a space and completing payment and paperwork, families are invited to meet their child’s teacher (a few weeks before the child’s start date). This typically happens through a welcome meeting or during classroom visits scheduled prior to beginning gradual entry.
Ongoing opportunities to connect with educators are built into the year through daily communication, scheduled meetings, and community events.
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Simply click on the “Join the waitlist” button on this page!
Please note that when we offer spaces out to families on our waitlist, it is a time sensitive offer, and parents typically have 24 hours to complete their paperwork and payment. We strongly encourage parents to book a tour so that they have their questions answered and are prepared to register when a space comes available.
Program Operations
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To find the closure dates for your program, please review our calendar.
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Our late fees are 20.00/5 minutes or portion thereof. For example:
4 minutes late - 20.00
5 minutes late - 20.00
6 minutes late - 40.00
9 minutes late - 40.00
If a family is late more than 3 times in a 6 month period, we may need to terminate care.
Staffing
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For our infant toddler programs, all our educators hold their Infant-Toddler Certificate or their Early Childhood Educator Certificate.
For our Junior Kindergarten programs, all our educators hold their Early Childhood Educator Certificate, their Early Childhood Educator Assistant Certificate or their Special Needs Certificate.
For our After-School Care program, our Manager holds her ECE/ITE certificate; our School-aged care leaders will hold their Responsible Adult training, Early Childhood Educator Assistant or Early Childhood Educator Certificate.
When visiting our programs, all regularly employed educators have their certificates posted on the wall of the classroom. You can check to see each individual certificate and the date that the educators completed their education.
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We will occasionally bring in a consultant, guest speaker or specialist teacher to support a project or inquiry in the classroom.
For children with additional support needs, we will work with Supported Childcare Consultants and our JK programs will often have part time funding for a classroom support aide, to provide direct support for children with additional support needs. The classroom support aide is not counted in ratio - so is an extra teacher specifically to work with the child(ren) requiring extra support or interventions.
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As a medium-sized not-for-profit, we maintain a small substitute teacher list of educators who are certified, criminal record checked, and able to work within the classrooms at short notice.
We also have educators in our toddler and junior kindergarten programs scheduled to work a 4 day work week - meaning that we can often have one of our regular educators come in to fill an unexpected shift on their “flex” day, eliminating the need for substitute teachers.
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We hold 3 professional days per year (non-instructional dates), when parent volunteers are welcome to complete shifts in the classroom and educators participate in professional development training.
This typically includes attending the Vancouver Reggio Conference in October; hosting our own curriculum-based workshop in February; and then in June/July completing training on health / safety and inclusion standards.
All teaching staff are required to maintain a valid first aid certificate.
Our staff have access to and are encouraged to complete virtual trainings including those by Mulberry Methods, Teacher Tom, MindUP, Dr Vanessa Lapointe and Reggio Children.
As a part of their ECE/ITE/SNE/ECEA certificate renewal, educators must complete a minimum of 40 hours of professional development every 5 years. SSOCC programs significantly surpass this minimum requirement, with educators completing a minimum of 24 pro-d hours per year.
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Our toddler, junior kindergarten programs and school aged care programs have an all-staff meeting outside of program hours once per month.
Our toddler and junior kindergarten programs additionally have daily team check ins.
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Depending on the program, an additional part time staff will come in to provide lunch break coverage or teachers are paid through their lunch breaks - taking lunch together with the children.
Regardless of what the program does to manage lunch breaks, we ensure that we are licensing-compliant in terms of ratio and licenses, throughout the entire day of operation.
Health & Safety
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All educators are required to have a valid first aid certificate (emergency first aid - 8 hours). Further, it is their responsibility to ensure their first aid certificate remains valid throughout their employment.
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When a child is in our program requiring an Epi-pen or Asthma inhaler, we contact the community health nurse / licensing to arrange for training for our staff who will be working with that child.
While, over time, many of our educators have received this training, we will still continue to provide it. Much like first aid training, the repetition is important for retaining vital emergency-medication-dispensing skills.
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Each of our programs has security cameras that run during program operational hours only.
The footage is not available to program staff or parents. This footage is recorded and retained for 60 days, and shared with licensing and program managers only in the event of a licensing investigation or a parent complaint.
In circumstances where an incident has led to an injury, we will share the video footage with the parents on request, to ensure information about the incident is available to medical professionals, if needed.
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All toys or materials are sanitized when “mouthed” by children.
All other toys and materials have a cleaning rotation, where they are sanitizied weekly.
Our Heron and Northriver programs have daily cleaning completed by school district staff. To maintain extra cleanliness standards, our parent volunteer program spends time doing deep cleaning in the classroom each week. Finally, our educators have daily and weekly cleaning duties to ensure the facilities are clean and sanitary.
At Southlands, we have a weekly cleaner to do a deep clean, and our educators complete daily and weekly cleaning duties.
Outdoor Learning & Play
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You can roughly expect your child to spend half of their day outdoors, and half of their day in the inside classroom.
In the late spring/summer/early fall when the weather is particularly friendly, we may spend most of the day outside.
Meals, Naps and Routines
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At this time we do not provide meals or snacks, however, all our locations have an active kitchen program. As a part of the baking / cooking program, children will prepare foods that are then shared at snack time, in addition to foods that parents provide.
Our program calendars, shared via the OWNA app and posted on-site in the classrooms, list the baking/cooking activities for each week.
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Yes and No.
Southlands Toddlers & Heron Toddlers both accept children who are not toilet trained. We will work together with families on toilet training when the child is showing readiness.
Heron Junior Kindergarten can accept children who are not yet toilet trained and will work together with parents on toilet training when the child is showing readiness.
Nothriver Junior Kindergarten can NOT accept children who are not toilet trained, due to limitations with the facilities washrooms. We do not have a washroom in-classroom at this location and diaper change facilities are not available.
If a child is not toilet trained at BUT has a full time support aide and wants to attend Northriver, we can accomodate that child at Northriver as long as the support aide will carry out all 1:1 toileting routines. A care plan will be required.
We can only accept children into our after-school care programs if they are toilet trained or if they have a dedicated one:one support aide who will carry out toileting care.
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We are unable to reheat lunches in our program as we often eat outside of offsite.
For parents wanting to provide a hot lunch option, we recommend using a high quality thermos. Fill the thermos with boiling water and let it sit for 1 minute; empty the boiling water, add the hot food, and close. This is typically enough to ensure the food remains hot and food-safe until lunch time.
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Yes, in our infant and toddler programs, educators are able to warm a child’s milk or formula bottle.
Registration and Payments
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Our fees are listed under each program (you can find this on the header bar, under “school aged” or “early childhood”
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The ACCB is a provincial benefit that helps eligible families reduce their child care fees.
Here’s how to apply:
Apply directly through the Province of B.C.
Applications are submitted online or by mail to the Affordable Child Care Benefit program.Have your documents ready.
You’ll need information such as proof of income, your child care provider’s details, and your child’s start date.Choose SSOCC as your provider.
Once approved, the benefit is paid directly to SSOCC and we apply that amount to reducing your fees.Renew as required.
ACCB is time-limited and must be renewed to continue receiving support.
If you need help with the process or have questions about how ACCB works with your program, please contact registration@ssocc.ca. We’re happy to support you.
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The registration paperwork will require you to have contact information for an emergency contact, an out-of-province emergency contact, your child’s doctor, your child’s dentist, and your child’s immunization records.
If your child has a diagnosis or medication needs, a medical care plan and/or medication administration permission form are additionally required, however, these can be completed after registering, but prior to your first day of attendance.
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To secure a space, families are required to pay a non-refundable registration fee of 150.00 and a refundable security deposit of half a month tuition. These fees confirm your acceptance of the space and allow us to finalize enrollment.
Details about timelines, and how the deposit is applied or refunded are outlined in our parent handbook, which is sent to parents along with the registration offer.
If you have questions before accepting a space, please contact registration@ssocc.ca
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Tuition fees are paid monthly, and one month in advance. For example, September tuition is due and payable on August 1.
Payments are typically withdrawn automatically at the beginning of each month using direct debit.
If you have questions about billing or payment arrangements, please contact billing@ssocc.ca
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To ensure smooth operations and fair treatment of all families, please adhere to the following withdrawal policy:
We required two full calendar months’ written notice to withdraw from any SSOCC program.
Notice must be submitted in writing to our registration manager via email: registration@ssocc.ca
Notice must be given on or before the last day of a month to count as one full month. Example: Notice given April 30 → Last day of care is June 30
Withdrawals and the child’s last day of possible attendance always take effect on the last calendar day of the month. While you may choose to end your child’s attendance mid month, the withdrawal is processed for the last calendar day of the month.
This withdrawal policy applies only to children who have already begun attendance in SSOCC programs.
Inadequate withdrawal once attendance has started:
If two full calendar months’ notice is not provided:
Your security deposit will be forfeited
You will still be responsible for the full two months’ tuition
You are welcome to have your child attend the program during that two month period
Withdrawal before attendance has started:
Families who accept a space in our programs but decide not to attend / withdraw prior to attending their first registered day and provide at least one full calendar month notice will forfeit their security deposit.
Families who accept a space in our programs but decide not to attend / withdraw prior to attending their first registered day and provide less than one full calendar month notice will forfeit their security deposit and their first months’ tuition. Families are welcome to send their child to attend during the month that they have paid tuition for.