Day Care

Benefits of Daycare for Both Children and Parents

Should My Child Attend Daycare?

While the decision for childcare is personal and different for each family, the advantages of daycare are a deciding factor for many parents.

What Age Benefits From Daycare?

From social skills to cognitive growth, there is a lot for new parents to learn when it comes to their child’s growth and development.

Naturally, many parents are equal parts curious, excited, and unsure about what a daycare should provide for their child developmentally.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the daycare benefits for children at each developmental stage:

Why is daycare good for babies? The growth and development that occurs in the first few years of your baby’s life are significant. From ages 0 to 2 months, your baby is setting the foundation for their sense of security and safety. Daycare will offer plenty of opportunities to support this growth.

Why is daycare good for toddlers? By the time your baby is a toddler, their social skills have skyrocketed, and they are actively seeking new experiences. With a love for play, your child’s daycare should provide an engaging environment with stimulating activities, such as sing-alongs, arts and crafts, and imaginative play.

Why is daycare good for kids? A high-quality daycare program will offer fun and engaging experiences that support your child’s development of critical social skills. Some facilities will begin to incorporate school-readiness programs and academics into their curriculum for older kids.

What do Children do at Daycare?

Overall, daycare will provide a safe and nurturing environment with a variety of engaging activities designed to support each child’s developmental needs.

Activities may include:

Storytime
Music & movement
Baby signs
Attentive talking
Q&A time
Rocking & cuddling
Arts & crafts
Imaginative play

*Day Care Information

Arrival and Dismissal

A staff member will be on duty each morning at designated drop-off areas at 8:30 a.m.
Parents are requested to say good-bye as quickly as possible. This has proven to be the best practice.
The doors will be opened to receive the student’s arrival at 8:30 a.m.
- Extended Care is available before and after school. Please contact the office to receive application form and information.

Dismissal time is at 3:00 p.m. Students will be dismissed to designated parents, no substitutions unless prior arrangements have been made with the administrative office.

It is important that you pick your child up at the appointed time each day. Any studentnot picked up within 15 minutes after dismissal time will be placed in the Extended Care Program and charged an hourly fee.

Attendance Policy

One of the keys to successful academic achievement is regular attendance at school.Regular attendance is required by the State of Maryland

and is necessary for good scholarship. All school days on the calendar are considered full days unless otherwise specified through notification of special events. Attendance at school becomes a permanent part of the student’s record. We believe that regular attendance in class is essential to the success of a student’s school experience. We want to discourage taking off days before and after a holiday or any time that school is in session.

The school will monitor attendance of all children and they are expected to be presenteach day unless sickness occurs, or death in the family, or some unusual occurrence thatmakes it impossible for the student to attend. Parents must:

Send the teacher a note or inform the teacher in person to indicate why the child is notin school.
Kindergarten is mandatory; therefore, family vacations should be arranged whenstudents are not scheduled to be in school.
Please do not send sick children to school. There are no provisions for sick children.

State Licensing

St. Stephens Creative Leaning Center is approved by Maryland Department of Non-Public Schools and is a member of The Association of Christian Schools International. One of the most frequently asked questions is “Are you accredited?” The answer is no; however, we operate within the requirements of city and state health, fire, and building regulations.

Our Curriculum is scientific research based and is aligned with the states Common Core Standards. We adhere to state standards for room, playground space, staff to child ratios, and program materials used. As with all schools in the state of Maryland, we are subject to periodic inspections. We do our best to comply with all state regulations and to correct any shortcomings as soon as we find out about them.