What a year! As we welcome 2024, we wanted to take a minute to look back at some of the highlights of 2023.
Partnership with Flight and MacEwan University
Our Agency was chosen to work with MacEwan University on filming a video to highlight our amazing educators’ work with Flight – Alberta’s Early Learning and Care curriculum framework.
We’ve been passionate about the Flight program since its inception (part of the pilot program!). This video project was designed to showcase how Flight has been implemented in actual day homes and our agency.
The video should be available in early 2024 and links will be shared with everyone.
*There will be a viewing party Feb 1 – watch for more details*
https://www.flightframework.ca/the-story-of-flight
New staff members
In light of administrative / policy changes and to help keep things in the office running smoothly, we also hired two new admin staff – welcome Jenna and Natalia!
Celebrating our educators
We have had a ton of applications and have welcomed 30+ new educators over the year. Welcome to the Team!
We also want to take a moment to acknowledge our continuing educators. This year, we had a number of big anniversaries (many above 20 years of partnership). Congratulations and thanks – running a day home is no easy feat and we are proud to continue to work with you.
2023 federal government “fee freeze”
There was a ‘Fee freeze’ – the continuation of the Affordability Grant required programs to commit to no increase in parent fees. The government introduced the Cost Increase Replacement (3% increase per child/affordability grant – to help offset the Fee Freeze).
More info can be found here:
- https://www.alberta.ca/changes-to-albertas-child-care-system
- https://open.alberta.ca/publications/alberta-child-care-affordability-grant-funding-guide
Speechified training
Speechified is a new pilot program that can be implemented in the day home to help children with challenges around speech and language.
Our consultants participated in Speechified Training for Consultants. This allows our Consultants to be valuable resources for educators who may be seeing speech and language development issues in their day homes.
To take advantage of the Speechified program, educators are encouraged to take the virtual workshop (covered by PD funding).
Note – this training is NOT intended to replace speech language pathologists (SLP), but more to help bridge the gap between speech and language issues and acceptance into a speech therapy program with an SLP or for children who may be on the cusp of requiring speech therapy.
More information on this partnership and how your Consultant can help ‘coach’ more speech supports in your day home coming in 2024.
Switch to Timesavr for attendance tracking
Like other local day home agencies, we switched over to Timesavr. The increase in numbers and changes was making it increasingly difficult to submit all of our children’s hours on time to the government in order to claim affordability grants, wage top ups, confirm subsidies, etc.
Timesavr allows us to submit more quickly and efficiently, ensuring that there is no delay in these government payments. The paper copies are still diligently reviewed to ensure that parent and educators fees are allocated properly.
Attendance records are a crucial aspect of the day home business and we will continue to work towards making attendance easier for everyone.
Partnership with ARCQE
We continue to partner with the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement (ARCQE) to with the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) developmental screening tools.
We have actively worked with families to complete Developmental Screenings for more children, which allows educators to tailor our planning and supports to individual needs.
Holiday turkey dinner
We had our annual (Holiday) Turkey Dinner at the Glenmore Inn on Nov 23 to celebrate the holiday together
We had 100 people join us for a festive buffet from the Glenmore Inn. Families, educators, consultants, and agency staff enjoyed an evening of conversation and great food.
 |  |  |
Networking events
An important part of our with our educators is helping to facilitate making connections / networking with other educators.
Our consultants usually try to plan events with their “roster” of educators. Over the year, our consultants hosted many potlucks and Networking Nights along with some evening workshops around the city. Here are some from 2023
- Feb 16 – potluck Falconridge
- Feb 22 – potluck Queensland
- April 4 – workshop on Managing Behaviours
- April 6 – workshop at the Crowfoot Library on Language and Communication
- June 6 – workshop at the Seton Library on Inclusion
- June 8 – workshop at the Saddletowne Library on Managing Behaviours
- June 12 – potluck at Panarama Community Center
- Aug 16 – potluck at Carburn Park
- Oct 26 – potluck at Queensland Community Center
- Oct 20 – potluck
- Nov 15 – workshop at the Crowfoot Library on Managing Behaviours
- Dec 6 – workshop at Queensland Community Center on Self Care
- Dec 11 – cookies, coffee and conversations on Flight, at the Saddletowne Library
- Dec 21 – ARCQE virtual workshop – Children Love Science, So Can We
In 2024, we plan to add more virtual opportunities too!
Thank you
We want to finish our reflection of 2023 with gratitude to our staff, our amazing educators, and all the families who are part of Calgary & Region Family Day Homes.
Thanks for a great year and all the best in 2024!