Natural light streams into all rooms of the Morris Early Learning Centres’ new main building on the southeast side of Morris. One of only a few new childcare facilities with 104 childcare spaces built across the province in the last couple years, the build brings much opportunity to the staff, the children, and the town.
“We are not on top of each anymore,” said executive director Kaleigh Schwark of the November opening. “Children can explore more in the larger space and the centre has opportunity to grow staff and programming.”
The RTM build, a cookie-cutter model funded by the provincial government, allowed for some personalized selection of colour schemes with artwork inspired by Indigenous star blankets along the hallways, but otherwise the building’s layout is similar, if not identical, to other daycare buildings across the province.
“All rooms have names inspired by trees native to Manitoba, which goes along with the logo of our daycare—a tree,” shared Beth Glass program supervisor. “Black Spruce, Jack Pine, Cottonwood, Wild Plum- the children are proud of the room they occupy and find a sense of belonging knowing they progress to a different room when they are old enough.”
“We have the capacity to operate eight rooms and have three individual fenced, outdoor play spaces,” noted Schwark. “I will have been in my role as executive director for one year in February. It’s been a challenging year, but we have made a strong team. We’ve brought in a few more staff and would love to see our team grow more this year.”
Morris Early Learning Centre continues to operate in two spaces: 40 infant to Kindergarten-aged children in the new building and 15 Gr. 1-6 spaces in the after-school program run out of the Baptist Church. Renovations should begin soon at the former Busy Nest space on Main Street in the hopes of expanding and permanently caring for 30 school-aged children there. The church would then no longer be used.
“The big hurdle we are experiencing right now is that we need more trained staff,” Schwark said, noting that although the centre operates with 15 full-time staff, only three are Early Childhood Educators (ECEs). Two are in training to become ECEs and the others hold their Child Care Assistant (CCA) designation, the lowest accreditation necessary to work with children in a daycare facility.
Regulations state that a 66 per cent ECE staff ratio must be maintained.
“As a whole, 66 per cent is hard to achieve, all daycare centres have the same hurdle and we would love for rural areas to have some leeway” in this mandate, explained Schwark. “We currently share staff between both locations and are excited that some CCAs have decided to become ECEs.”
The daycare continues to recruit staff, including ECEs and staff for summer programming, with some support from the Manitoba Government’s Education and Early Childhood Learning department, but “the onus falls mostly on individual daycares.”
There are numerous opportunities to train as a CCA or ECE through various campuses around the province, including one program that includes remote learning two days per week.
If you are unsure whether a childcare career is for you, a great way to experience the daycare environment would be to read the children a book. I Love to Read Month happens this month, where volunteers visit schools and daycares to interact with children and encourage literacy.
“We offer a supportive management team and flexibility,” said Schwark. “And we would love to be more involved with the community.”
Schwark can be reached at 204-746-2285 or bnkoc2019@outlook.com by individuals interested in reading this month or for more information about working at the centre.
