6 February 28, 2019 - Community Voice News

Riverside Park Nursery School secures funding for expansion, relocation

BY ERIN MCCRACKEN
After years of planning and
dreaming, a non-profit nurs-
ery school in the Riverside Park
community will be moving to
a future purpose-built centre,
allowing it, for the first time, to
also offer full-time and infant
care thanks to $1.5 million from
the province.
“The day that we found out we
got the funding was very emo-
tional for all of us,” said Paulette
Young, director of the Riverside
Park Nursery School for the past
13 years.
The school cares for children
ages 18 months to five years
old five mornings a week at the
Riverside Churches, where it has
operated for the past 47 years.
“Both congregations saw a
need for a nursery school so
they started that and it was in-
corporated later as a non-de-
nominational not-for-profit,”
Donna Bueckert, one of 10 on
the school’s volunteer board of
directors, said of the United and
Anglican churches, which share
the building at 3191 Riverside
Dr.
The capital funding from the
Ontario Ministry of Education,
announced in late December,
will cover the cost of three of
five classrooms in a child-care
centre that will be constructed
near Holy Cross School off
Springland Drive, at the vacant
Canoe Bay-owned site.
It’s hoped construction will
start this fall, pending the
city’s approval process, allow-
ing the nursery school to open
by Dec. 31, 2020, a ministry
requirement.
Once the facility is ready, the
plan is to provide programming
at the current and new sites until
operations can be consolidated
Erin McCracken photos at the Springland Drive location
Cecilia Alexander, 2, washes her hands during morning after June 2021.
programming at the Riverside Park Nursery School, currently “Even when I started 13 years
based at the Riverside Churches. ago, that was in the minutes of
my first board meeting – plan-
ning for a new building or a new
location,” Young recalled. “It
was recognized a long time ago
and then it was just a matter of
where.”
in 2014, followed by the St. Elias
Child Care and Family Resource
Centre in 2015.
“Those were sad days because
I got a lot of calls from parents
looking for daycare,” Young said.
Future hours of operation
are still in development, but
child care could be offered be-
tween 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Overnight care is being contem-
plated for shift workers.
Dedicated space is key.
Currently, daycare staff must
pack up and unpack supplies
and furniture in three rooms
and the bathroom every morn-
ing and afternoon to make way
for other church programming
and receptions.
“On a day when there’s a fu-
it is built.
“I think it will be a benefit for
the community and certainly
a benefit for the children and
the families. Why not? They’re
right there. It makes sense,” said
Young.
The school’s programming in-
cludes outdoor play and learn-
ing, circle time, music, a forest
and nature school, as well as in-
clusive programming for chil-
dren with special needs. It also
started offering a morning sum-
mer camp in 2018.
“The children benefit from the
social interaction,” said Bueckert.
The expansion will require
almost double the number of
educators plus the addition of a
full-time cook, janitorial services

Upcoming Issues
The two-storey, 8,800-square-
foot (818-square-metre) centre,
which will continue to operate as
a not-for-profit with charitable
status but under a new name
Published every second week. that has not yet been decided,
will offer full- and part-time care
for 10 infants, 30 toddlers and 48
Publication Date Submission deadline preschoolers, up to age five, for a
total of 88 children.
March 14 ...................................... March 7 Currently, the nursery school is
licensed for 50 children but has
March 28 ...................................... March 21 39 on any given day, some from
the nearby community and
April 11 ......................................... April 4 also from as far away as Findlay
Creek, Manotick and Barrhaven.
Visit us at www.ottawavoice.ca for more The City of Ottawa, which
provided support to the school
in its funding application to the
province, was keen to see infant
care added.
“In full-day programs there’s
actually not a lot of infant child-
care centres licensed in Ottawa,”
613-45-voice (613-458-6423) said Young.
Full-time care in the area is in
demand.
The Tupper Tots daycare centre
declared bankruptcy and closed
Donna Bueckert, left, a volunteer director with the Riverside
Park Nursery School’s building subcommittee, and school
director Paulette Young say the school’s future relocation to
the Canoe Bay site nearby will allow it to expand and offer
more child-care options.
neral … we really have to hurry and an office administrator, for
to tidy up,” said Young, who also a total of 18.
must pack up her office work- To add a total of five classrooms
space each weekday. at the new centre, less than
“It’s quite the operation,” said $900,000 is needed to top up the
Bueckert, who is on the school’s provincial funding. Grants and
new building subcommittee bank loans will be explored, and
with Donya Farhat, Crystal fundraising will be needed.
McConkey, Melinda Assaf and “We’re really trying to service
Young. the community,” said Young,
The plan is to integrate inter- “because we know it’s something
generational programming at that’s really needed.
the new school, bringing to- Community input on the plans
gether the children and seniors, will be sought in the coming
including those who move to the months.
Canoe Bay seniors’ village once emccracken@ottawavoice.ca