Year: 2019 — Province: Nova Scotia
Certificate of Achievement Recipient
Leeds Street Child Care Centre
Non-profit child care centre and demonstration school for children 4 months to 5 years
Halifax, Nova Scotia
"For the children, Jessica is a friend, a caregiver and someone that they can trust implicitly. Someone who truly sees and hears them and enables them to become the best versions of themselves each and every day."
— Parent and nominator
In her role—equal parts educator, administrator, partner and innovator—Jessica Landry enjoys a 360° view of the centre's operations. When coupled with her skill in and dedication to the profession, she has become a catalyst and facilitator of excellence for everyone at Leeds Street.
Philosophy of care
Jessica ensures programming is inclusive and co-created with the children, reflects the cultural, socio-economic and language diversity of the learners, and affirms their self-worth, belonging and sense of self to support their physical, emotional, social, cognitive, ethical and creative development.
Support of child development
- Researches topics of interest to create unique learning activities, involving the children in the research (trips to the library) and bringing in experts: for example, children read and did activities based on a story about a girl dealing with difficult emotions as part of a university research project.
- Introduced "learning stories" to children's portfolios—narratives written to the child featuring observations, details of a hurdle overcome and an accomplishment that made both the teacher and child proud: the stories validate learning and allow children to see that their work is respected.
- Gets the children out into the world through field trips and special events: learning about bridges led to a walk to a local one to see how it stayed up; travelling to a farm in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley focused on learning about the environment, local industry and how food gets to the table.
Involvement with parents, families and the community
- Involved parents in developing an outdoor natural playground when barriers arose to pursuing a bigger plan: introduced parents to the benefits of loose parts play, giving them a wish list of items to source (wire spools, tires, logs) and projects to fundraise for, such as building two teepees.
- Seeks out activities of cultural and community importance to expose children to, including two government announcements at the centre about accessibility, an Indigenous gathering and powwow-style dance competition, and a ride in a dragon boat.
- Partnered with nearby church community garden committee to have a plot at the centre for children to plant, water and harvest fruit and vegetables; once a year, the children bake treats for the church to show their gratitude for allowing them to participate in the initiative.
Get in touch!
Leeds Street Child Care Centre
5685 Leeds Street, PO Box 2210
Halifax NS B3K 2T3
902-491-4622
joelle.rowlings@nscc.ca
https://www.nscece.ca/lab-schools/leeds-street-child-care-center/
Facebook: @Leeds Street Child Care Centre