Dear Thistleoaks Families,
I have some exciting news to share with you all. We have been the recipients of some funding from the Region and have quite few projects that you will see in development between now and the end of the year. I have outlined each of those projects below to keep you in the loop and to share our excitement!
Flooring
The entire centre’s old, damaged laminate flooring will be replaced with durable, waterproof, rubberized wood-look flooring. This is exciting for a few reasons:
It will bring a cohesive look throughout the centre and allow us to say goodbye to our current patchwork flooring
Smooth, level transition strips will increase our accessibility
Rubberized flooring will be able to stand up to the demands of the day, as well as the rigorous nightly cleaning required
The floors will be replaced one room at a time. We have two spare classrooms which will house the classes whose rooms are undergoing renovation. Each room will take at most two days to complete the flooring replacement. Following is our broad replacement schedule:
The first room to be replaced will be the Maple Room
The upstairs classrooms will be replaced next
The downstairs classrooms will be replaced last
The Applewood room (Infants) will be replaced on a weekend, so no room disruption for our babies!
Your classroom educators will give you plenty of notice about when your child’s classroom is having their floors replaced, and they will help direct you to the temporary classroom.
Toddler Playground
It has been our vision for the past few years to transform our outdoor playground from traditional playground structures to natural playscapes. You may have noticed that in the past few years, many public parks and school playgrounds have made this shift. In addition to the development of physical and gross motor skills, natural playgrounds further foster and encourage the development of social and cooperative skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills, and stimulate a child’s imagination and creativity more than a traditional playground.
During the construction of the playground the Willow Room will be arranging outdoor time in the Birch playground to ensure there’s no disruption to their daily outdoor time.
Our ultimate goal is to revamp all five outdoor play areas to a natural playscape. We will be completing the remaining four play areas in phases over the next few years, and will keep you updated on our plans.
Kitchen Renovation
Our old laminate kitchen flooring is being replaced with new ceramic tile. It’s easier to clean and provides better leak protection (though hopefully we never have to deal with that!).
Our current sanitizer has reached its end of life. We are required to fully sanitize all dishes used in the centre daily. The upgraded sanitizer will be able to sanitize a larger load of dishes at a faster rate – this also means that we will be able to serve both daily snacks in addition to lunch on dishes instead of paper towels, greatly cutting down on the waste we produce. In addition to helping ensure the longevity of our new floors, the upgraded sanitizer also ticks a box on our ambitions to become a more green centre.
Unsurprisingly, a kitchen renovation cannot take place just on weekends. Our kitchen will not be useable while the renovation is going on. For the duration of the renovation will be using a child care catering service.
We are still in the process of finalizing the timeline for this part of the renovation; your classroom educators will keep you updated.
Classroom Equipment
We will be purchasing some more natural materials and pieces of furniture, including new rugs, wooden tables and chairs, and wooden shelving. We are working in collaboration with the classroom educators, involving them in the process of identifying what equipment is needed to support their rooms and their programming. The new, natural equipment will increase the cohesive look around the centre and greatly contribute to our goal of outfitting the centre with natural wood and furnishings.
In addition, the Maple Room is going to have a new door installed to their bathroom. This room was previously used for younger children, but is now being used for older children who want and need the privacy a door affords them.
Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
We will be purchasing an AED to house at in the Sunroom at Thistleoaks. All of our educators are CPR-certified, and have specific AED training. While we do have an AED available in the Oaklands building, having a second onsite AED significantly reduces the amount of time for us to acquire it in the event of an emergency. We will be purchasing both child- and adult-sized pads. The AED was an initiative brought forth by our educators in an effort to increase the safety and well-being of the children, staff, and families that are a part of the Thistleoaks community.
Communication of Progress and Updates
To give us a quick and easy way to keep you informed of our progress, we will be posting regular updates on our blog (www.thistleoaks.ca/blog with the tag 'Renovations') and on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ThistleoaksCCC). We encourage you to follow our updates on those mediums! If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. We are very excited about how our look will be changed by the time 2020 greets us!