About Us
"Where children are honored for who they are."
Island Kids Academy offers licensed group Child Care for children ages 1-5. We currently have three quality Child Care centers; each building has 12 infant spaces, 12 toddler spaces and 24 Preschool age spaces. We offer both full time and part-time positions.
The Directors
Island Kids Academy is owned and operated by a group of energetic, educated women who recognize the valuable service that quality Child Care can provide to families with young children. All of us have attained Bachelors Degrees in Child and Youth Care from the University of Victoria and collectively we have extensive and diverse experience in the fields of child care, family support and youth and family counseling.
As directors, we are passionate about Child Care. All of us are working mothers and have had the opportunity to learn first-hand the importance of high quality Child Care. We believe that Child Care can offer an enriching experience for children, while providing an invaluable support for working families.
The Educators
At island Kids Academy, our staff are hightly qualified professional with their certification in Early Childhood Education and/or other related training. We offer a one to four ratio in the infant/toddler rooms and a one to eight ratio in the preschool rooms. Each program is lead by a dynamic supervisor that works along side their incredible team ensuring that each child is having a positive, nurturing and enriching experience on a daily basis. There is also a manager located at each of the three centers. These managers have been apart of the Island Kids Academy team for many years and exemplify the very essence of the standard of care that Island Kids Academy continually upholds. This is displayed through the managers interactions with the children, parents and team on a daily basis. In addition, the directors oversee the daily operations of the three centers offering hands on support to the managers and staff as necessary.
The Name
We took great care in choosing a name for our facility.
"Island" was chosen because we are all residents of Vancouver Island. Early in life, children begin to identify themselves as people within families, within communities, within cities, within countries, within the world and we believe that we can support children to learn their place within each of these. Our program strives to recognize and appreciate our community and our world in ways that are fun and easy for children to understand.
"Kids" was chosen because first and foremost our program is about children and about fun. We recognize the unique developmental needs of children of various ages and stages and our program reflects this.
"Academy" was chosen because by definition it means "a place to cultivate literature, art, music, science, etc.; a place to which membership is an honour". Children by nature want to learn and have much to teach us adults through their process. In this way, it is an honour for all of us to be a part of the academy.
Our Program
Children are assigned to "animal families", with a consistent primary educator/caregiver. Each program operates with a daily schedule that provides outside time, art, sensory activites, freeplay, circle time (music, stories/felt stories, songs, etc.), science and nature in addition to all of the essential basic needs of the children. The Preschool-aged program has a more advanced version of the daily schedule additionally offering prekindergarten curriculum. Each month the programs provide calendars and enjoy exploring a variety of themes. The daily schedules and monthly calanders are used as a foundation to work from, at the same time following the inspirations of the children with an emergent curriculum. All three centers are located in walking distance of the beach, which is one of the many outdoor activities that are offered.Contact Us
We are located in Victoria, B.C. with two locations.
Please send us an emailor give us a call at either location:
View Royal: info@islandkids.caor phone: 250-727-2929.
Esquimalt: islandkidsesquimalt@shawbiz.caor
phone: 250-381-2929