Oncise information
Introduction
This information page for KinderOntwikkelingsCentrum Carpe Diem was developed for anyone wishing to know more about who we are and what we stand for in a nutshell.
Our Vision
Children attending our child-care center are given the opportunity and encouragement to develop both individually and socially in an environment where they feel safe. We are open to the placement of children with disabilities or allergies. If it is necessary, extra staff can be enlisted for your child with disabilities.
The pedagogical policy
We guarantee the quality of care that we offer through our pedagogical policy. You can obtain a copy of this plan at your request, please just ask. Below is some brief information from this policy. We do not work according to one teaching method, but use a combination of various methods, extracting the best points of each to formulate our vision.
Our center has two ”vertical groups” with children ranging in ages from 0-4 years. This can be comforting for siblings when they are in the same group, with the same teaching staff during the whole care period (almost four years), mimicking the diversity of ages just like at home, allowing for a closer bond between them all. Due to the diverse ages in the groups, children learn to adapt their behaviour for younger and older children where needed.
We work with a fixed daily schedule as far as food, drink and activities are concerned. We set individual, but set sleep schedules for every child, as needs vary widely. This is of course done with parent consultation.
This means that all children don’t have to go to bed at the same time, if a child is tired we bring the child to bed and if the child isn’t tired the child doesn’t go to bed. Just like at home, where parents try to establish a rhythm but it doesn’t always succeed.
In the “wet kinderopvang” (Child-care act) rules are stated for the maximum group size and the number of child-care teachers per group. We apply these rules in our groups and this means that each group consist of maximum 14 children per day. Per six or seven children, depending on their ages, one child-care teacher is present. When a group consist of more than 14 children, at least three child-care teachers attend the group. All teaching staff members must be qualified accordingly to the “wet kinderopvang” or they must be in training for their qualification. The teachers on a group may never consist out of trainees only, there always have to be qualified teachers present.
Health and safety policy
Every year we conduct a number of risk assessments in the areas of safety, health and fire safety.
Every child-care center in the Netherlands is obliged to carry out these assesments and we are inspected by the GGD (the health department).
The inspection reports are published on internet. By carrying out these risk assesments we are obligied to take a critical look at our child-care center and its safety.
Complaints procedure
We try to offer the best possible quality child care, but it can always happen that a parent has a complaint.
Carpe Diem is therefore connected to the complaint committee child-care. If you have a complaint, please discuss this first with the child-care teachers or with the management. If your complaint can’t be solved by them, the next step is the parents’ committee. And if they can not help you they will refer you to the complaint committee child-care. If you want to you can contact the complaint committee directly. We hope that you will never need the complaint committee but it is good to know that Carpe Diem is connected to the complaint committee if you might need them.
Parent’s committee
We have a very active parent’s committee who supports us in all kinds of issues. If you are a new parent and want to become a member of our parent’s committee your are more then welcome to join!
Opening hours and rates
Carpe Diem is open all year round, except on weekends, national holidays and the week that includes Christmas.
Our center is open Monday to Friday from 7.30 am to 18.00 pm. We offer two kinds of sessions at our center: whole day sessions between 7.30-18.00 with a minimum between 9.00-17.00 or half day sessions from 7.30/9.00 till 12.30/13.00 or from 12.30/13.00 till 17.00/18.00. Flexible short-term care is also possible, provided that we have space on the required days / times. Sometimes it’s very busy when children are being brought or picked up. That’s why, if you appreciate this, we write about your child’s day in a notebook so you can always take note of the most important events of that day.
Our hourly rate is € 8,17 per hour. These are the costs without “kinderopvangtoeslag” (child-care support from the tax office), the actual costs are lower and depend on your income. We expect parents to pay these costs monthly in advance. If your payment is delayed we will charge you € 10,–. If you are late picking up your child, but you are with us before 18.00 pm we will charge you € 16,34 per hour. If you come after 18.00 pm we will charge you € 10,– per quarter, since we have to stay open longer. Our hourly rates include; Diapers, Nutrilon (formula), fresh fruits and all other nourishments.
Register
If you want to register your child with us, we are happy to make an appointment for a tour of our center. You can call us to make an appointment or fill out our tour form. To register your child, please fill in our registration form, then we can draw up a contract which you will receive in duplicate. After signing one copy is for our records and the other copy is for you. If we have no space on the days or hours you requested we will contact you.
A month before the actual placement we will contact you by telephone to make arrangements for your child to stay with us for three or four mornings or afternoons before the contract really starts so that we can get to know your child and yor child can get to know us. At that time we will also discuss what things you need to take with you to Carpe Diem (notebook, bottle, name and number of the doctor, etc.). If you have already registered your child with us and, by any reason, you no longer want to use our services please let us know and cancel on time (at least one month in advance) or you will be charged for a month. Should you have any questions, or if you want to take a look at our center, please call us and make an appointment!
