Horizons Child Care and Learning Services Co. in Bernville is ready for the new school year and is now able to accept CCIS subsidized payments to help with the cost of child care.
‘We’re under new ownership and we actually just got licensed June 26 of this summer,’ said Nicole Williams, director. ‘We’re the first and only commercial daycare in the whole Tulpehocken School District.’
The center offers child care services for children from six weeks old to 13 years old. Starting with the school year the daycare will start their new pre-school program as well as offering before and after school care that includes transportation to the Tulpehocken area schools, breakfast in the morning and homework assistance.
Being able to accept CCIS allows the center to offer care to those that may have difficulty with the cost of tuition. Not only does the center take CCIS, but they also created their own sliding scale to help those that may not fall into the state assistance category, but still need some help.
‘Since we’re licensed, now we can take CCIS funding,’ said Williams. ‘So if there’s anybody who’s getting state assistance and needs child care we open up that program. We also opened our own kind of assistance program for those who are kind of caught in-between, that can’t really afford child care, but they don’t qualify for CCIS. We’ve kind of come up with a little program to help out those stuck in the middle.’
‘Money shouldn’t be the barrier,’ said Liz Simmons, assistant teacher at the center. ‘We started offering a sliding scale. So it goes based off income. There are certain people that will meet that CCIS that they can get that funding, but then there are some people that make just a little too much money that they can’t get it.’
Both women believe that the two programs will keep parents from having to make the choice of leaving their child home alone or having to find other options solely due to cost. Williams and Simmons pointed out the importance of children socializing with their peers and how daycare centers help the children prepare for kindergarten with programs and schedules that are similar to that in the school system.
‘I’m trying to align all of our curriculum up with Tulpehocken’s standards. So I’ve just been given all of their kindergarten standards to make sure that any child that’s going to be here in our pre-school and pre-K program, they’ll be ready to go straight into kindergarten,’ said Williams.
The center has also applied to the Keystone Stars program and are currently waiting to hear back.
With the exception of head teacher Noi Karnchanaboon who already has her bachelor’s degree, Williams, Simmons and assistant teacher Shenea Comeau are adding to their education to further help the children at the center.
Horizons strongly believes in the mixed age group teaching benefits during which those at the center spend time with those younger and older than them as well as time separated by age groups. Both Williams and Simmons have seen the results with the older children gaining confidence and taking the younger under their wings as well as the younger children having a role model to look up to.
The center which can have up to 37 children likes the idea of limiting the size and keeping it small to allow one-on-one time and more personal interaction. They also offer drop in care for holidays and in-service days.
Two upcoming events at Horizons are an open house on Aug. 13 from 5 to 7 p.m. and an End of Summer Bash at Bern Grove off of 183 on Aug. 23.
For more information on the center visit www.horizonschildservices.com.
