West Scarborough Neighbourhood

Community Centre - Bridlewood

EarlyON Report
Created By Michelle Vong

Community Information
According to the Raising the Village website, the
communities inequities score level is high. The
majority of the community are a visible minority
and the highest percentage of respondents were
Chinese (32.1%), explaining why Mandarin and
Cantonese are in the top three spoken languages.
More people in this community eat healthy
(around 80-90%) than unhealthy (49%) and
around 20% of people participate in Early
Learning. Many students enjoy school and feel
safe at school and around the neighbourhood
with bullying rarely happening.
Site’s vision on family
involvement
We must offer neighbourhood programs and
services designed to enhance the well-being of
people in the context of their family, community,
culture and environment. These programs should
cultivate authentic, caring relationships and
connections that create a sense of belonging.
Engagement with caregivers should occur with
the children present.

Examples on How
Program Staff Meet
The Vision
Statement
What I find most interesting about my sites approaches is
that we are encouraged to speak the same language as the
families (if we know the language) whereas in my experience
at daycare we were discouraged from speaking anything but
English. Some families who come to my site only speak
chinese and it helps them feel more comfortable and make
connections with the staff when we speak the same
language. I also like how when we host holiday parties we do
a potluck and ask families to bring dishes. Food is a part of
every family and this potluck can really supports their
engagement at our site and create a welcoming environment
where everyone is able share their cultures. I also like that we
try to have the children and caregivers sit together during
snack time. I think the children like this setting as well and
some parents discuss how their children won’t eat the same
food at home but will during snack time when they are
together with other children.
1. We talk to caregivers when we interact with their child and create
genuine relationships. We try to learn more about themselves and
their children so they feel more comfortable at the EarlyOn.
2. We encourage families to talk their home language and if we can
speak the same language we do as well to make the families feel
more comfortable.
3. We educate families on babies development during our Baby Time
discussion.
4. During circle time we invite families to share songs that they enjoy
singing and will sing them or have them teach everyone. We will
occasionally try to have multiple languages in our songs and have
families teach us how to say words in their language. For example,
“Hello, Hello” song.
5. We send newsletters through Email.
6. During snack time we try to have all the children sit at the same table
even if they don’t talk to each other. We have the parents sit with them
and it creates enhanced sense of belonging and creates relationships.
7. We hold holiday potluck parties. We ask that everyone bring a dish to
share with other families which focuses on family involvement rather
than just the EarlyOn centre providing food. Many families will create a
dish from their culture which leads to greater conversations and sense
of community.
8. We try to listen to families about what they enjoy not only in the
EarlyOn but around the community. For example, during one of my
learning plans, I stated that a nearby mall will be holding a puppet
show. Some families went and shared that their children enjoyed this
so we created our own puppet show based on “The Very Hungry
Caterpillar” and showed it at our centre.
 City of Toronto Child and Family Centres Operating
and Business Practice Guidelines (2023) Program
Standards
Standard VIII: Children's developmental progress is observed and discussed

The intent of this standard is to be mindful of the children’s developmental progress and to apply them to theories we learned in readings and create programs
that are catered to the children’s developmental stage and help them advance. It is also important to observe their progress as we can discuss it with their
caregivers in a respectful way and support the families by giving advice if wanted. Some caregivers enjoy talking about their children’s development so it is
important to understand theories and discuss their developmental progress with co-workers first.

Examples:
The staff at my placement discusses children’s developmental progress with other staff and occasionally with the caregivers if the caregiver brings up concerns.
1. There is a child who is delayed in their speech and over the weeks their language has improvement due to engaging and participating in circle time.
Their parent likes to share that their child likes to try to sing the songs at home by themselves and has tried to count down from 5 as we do during
“zoom zoom zoom”. We use this information to make more eye contact with this child during this song and are slower when counting down from 5. We
may also intentionally put out toys that are language based such as legos with letters on them that will help us create a conversation with the child. Over
the weeks the child can confidently count down from 5 and says more words and we share the progress with the parent.

2. There is one child who had trouble maintaining their attention and focus on one thing before running to the next. The parents shared their concern with
the staff and we let them know that we were here to support the child and family and listen to them. The family discussed it with a pediatrician as well
and were told they shouldn’t force the child to do anything so we respect their wishes and not force them to do circle time. Gradually, over the months
the child has become better at focusing on one thing at a time and spending longer at each toy before moving on.
 City of Toronto Child and Family Centres Operating
and Business Practice Guidelines (2023) Program
Standards Cont.
Standard IX: Parents/caregivers receive information about relevant local community services

The intent of this standard is to help families be informed about useful information and resources that are near them that they
can take advantage of and may help them and cater to their needs. By having EarlyONs share this information it will make
families lives much easier and open opportunities for them to use these resources. It helps both families who were looking for
something specific and those who were completely oblivious and didn’t realize how useful services could be.

Examples: My placement…
1. Sends relevant emails to our members (everyone who has come before and registered)
2. Puts local community services, programs, and useful information on our community board
3. Discuss relevant local community services with caregivers during circle time and during conversations based on
knowledge we have of the family already and their needs
4. We have a settlement worker that visits multiple times a month and families can talk to her and provide them with
information they need about the community
 City of Toronto Child and Family Centres Operating
and Business Practice Guidelines (2023) Program
Standards Cont.
Standard X: Partnerships are established with other local community services

The intent of this standard is to benefit the families going to EarlyON by having more services work together and give them an easy
way to use and be knowledgeable of them. For example, it could work by redirecting families to partnered services and guaranteeing
help or by having services come to our location that families can use and not have to worry about travelling farther.

Examples:
1. We partnered with Woodgreen Community Services to have a settlement worker come to our drop ins every week to answer any
questions families might have about settlement related issues
2. We have a separate (Centre for Immigrant and Community Services) CICS EarlyOn partner location where there is a wider age
range of programs and services available like employment services
3. Each month we have a worker who introduces a new family to our EarlyON site who can use our resources
a. They discuss services families can use such as home visits to check on their babies health and development
4. We have had the opportunity for representatives from Ontario’s Health to give a workshop to families on baby food and health
 ● Talk to families about their goals for their children and
create goals together.
● Talk to families more about what programs they would
like to see at EarlyON and their feedback on the centre
and what we can improve.
○ One way to do this other than talking to each family
is by creating a survey for families to fill out with a
Strategies to variety of questions and a section for them to add
additional comments.
Enhance Family ● Display children’s work.
○ When thinking of children’s work I mostly think of
Involvement art pieces that they created. We have room on the
walls where we can display children’s work and
further enhance family involvement and
engagement. The only thing is that we rarely have
any children playing with the art supplies.
● We can try to create more activities for caregivers that
they need and get them involved in the centre through
volunteering and participating.