Question

• Research the Child Care and Early Year Act (CCEYA, 2014) for regulations pertaining to school-age care as well as the Bill 242 for extended care for kindergarten children. Links are provided in the Required Readings on SLATE.
• Based on the information researched, answer the following questions:

According to the CCEYA, what is the age group that school-age care programs serve? Please list all age groups.

According to the CCEYA, what are the staff/child ratio and maximum group size for different school-age care programs?

Based on Bill242, what are the staff/child ratio and maximum group size for kindergarten classrooms, and for extended care before and after school hours?

What is the staff qualification or training required to work in school-age care programs, or in kindergarten classrooms, or the extended care programs?

Are there different requirements for outdoor play areas for school-age children, or kindergarten children? Should the outdoor playground be fenced for the kindergarten children?

According to the CCEYA, what are the requirements for curriculum planning as well as indoor and outdoor schedules for school-age or kindergarten children during before and after school hours, PA days or March Break? Is the outdoor play time required for kindergarten and school-age children during PA days or March Break?

Answer 1

According to the CCEYA, is the age group that school age care programs serves, infants(younger than 18 months), Toddler(18 months or older but younger than 30 months), preschool(30 months or older but younger than six years), kindergarden(44 months or older but younger than 7 yrs)primary/school age(68 months or older but younger than 13 yrs), junior school age (9 years or older but younger than 13 yrs).

According to the CCEYA, the staff/child ratio and maximum group size for different school-age care programs are shown below,

Licensed infant group must always maintain full staff-child ratios as required by schedule 1(3:10) schedule 1 reduced ratio requirements.

*Toddlers age ratios are not less than 1:8

*preschool age ratio are not less than 1:12

*kinder garden age ratio are not less than 1:20

*primary/junior age ratio are not less than 1:23

Qualified Staff
Proportion of qualified employees is observed as follows:
1. Where fewer than 3 staff are required to provide care, there is at least 1 staff are qualified or otherwise
approved by the Ministry director.
Or
Where 3 or more staff are required to provide care, there is at least 2 staff are qualified or otherwise
approved by the Ministry director.
Subsection 2.8 - Resource Teachers
Ontario Regulation 137/15
(1) A licensee of an integrated child care centre or home child care agency may employ a resource
teacher to plan and implement individual and small group experiences for children with special needs
who receive child care in the child care centre or at a premises where the licensee oversees the
provision of home child care, and in respect of whom funds are provided under the Act.
(2) A resource teacher shall not be included when calculating the number of employees required to meet the ratio under section 8.

Outdoor play space is required for programs that operate for more than six hours in a day. However, if a halfday or before- and/or after-school program chooses to have outdoor play space, they must meet all licensing
requirements for the space.
Director approval for alternate arrangements may be exercised on a site by site basis. Alternate arrangement
could include roof top playgrounds, outdoor play space that is not directly adjacent to the child care centre or,
in the case of kindergarten groups, outdoor play space without a fence.
Considerations for rooftop playgrounds may include:
* age of children using play space
*.type and height of fencing (height required for ground level playgrounds is not sufficient for rooftop
playgrounds)
*.use of fixed play structures, including their distance from the fence
*. confirmation of structural integrity of the roof/building if fixed play structures are planned
*. additional provisions for protection from environmental factors that may be more severe at rooftop
level, including wind, sun, shade, snow and air quality
*adequacy of enhanced supervision plans, including whether staff-child ratios need to be altered so
that more staff are present
*emergency procedures, including number of primary and secondary exits, posted, detailed,
evacuation procedures, a communication system (phones, intercom) and availability of first aid supplies.