Excerpts
Description
Design plays an important role in providing a centre that is welcoming, inclusive, safe, enriching and joyful for children, families, caregivers and early childhood professionals. Thoughtful and quality design enables learning, play and building social, emotional, cognitive and physical skills essential to a child’s healthy development.
Design Guidelines for Child Care Centres (design guidelines) have been published to help organizations with child care space creation projects achieve a balance between consistent, quality and functional child care centre designs, which will benefit children, families, early learning professionals and communities for years to come.
They build on the health and safety standards in the Community Care and Assisted Living Act and the Child Care Licensing Regulation and will help organizations create centres that are safe, accessible and promote the health and well-being of children, educators and families.
The design guidelines are meant to be used as a tool alongside other supports, such as the inclusion toolkit, local bylaws and building standards.
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Design Guidelines for Child Care Centres
The design guidelines were informed through engagement with local governments, First Nations, Indigenous organizations, school districts, child care professionals and other interested groups.
They may be used by a variety of audiences and professionals and are meant to be a resource for the sector. They are available for consideration and are not mandatory. Professionals are expected to rely on their professional judgement when applying the guidelines to child care projects.
Child care centres that are built with the design guidelines in mind will better meet the needs of their communities, foster a sense of belonging and facilitate respectful living and learning through inclusive and accessible design. They will also guide the creation of spaces that are functional, are long-lasting, contemplate the needs of both families and providers, are cost- and energy-efficient to run, incorporating climate resilient strategies and considering environmental impacts.
Some local or Indigenous governments have specific build and design requirements beyond those included in the ministry’s design guidelines. We encourage project managers to consult with their local or Indigenous government about any specific requirements they may have when designing new child care centres.
The guidelines provide information on the design phases of a project as well as specific guidance to develop quality, inclusive and culturally safe child care spaces, including selecting an effective project team, space allocations, primary spaces for child care centres and essential design elements.
Accessibility and inclusion
An inclusive, culturally safe child care environment designed to celebrate diversity and accessibility benefits everyone. The design guidelines provide guidance to achieve higher and more consistent quality child care that is accessible and inclusive for all.
Well-designed child care centres consider the location and design elements of each of the key spaces in the centre to support cultural safety, accessibility and inclusion, learning and development, elements of care, health and safety and the functional flow of daily activities.
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