Frequently Asked Questions

To be added to the waitlist, please click the “join our waitlist” button on our home page to fill out all of your information. This is the only way to be added to our waitlist – we do not add emailed inquiries.

Please note being placed on the waitlist does NOT guarantee that a spot will be available. We will contact you when a spot becomes available.

The waitlist for our Toddler program averages about 1-1.5 years with priority going to siblings of current or past families or employees.

For Junior preschool (2.5-3 years old), the waitlist is shorter but fewer spots tend to be available. We will generally have a few Junior preschool spots available in September of each year. These spots fill up quickly and we recommend following up in March/April if you are interested in one of these spots.

We very rarely have Senior preschool (3.5-4.5 years old) spots available unless a child moves away.

After being put on the waitlist, you are welcome to follow up every 4-6 months via email letting us know that you are still interested.

Please note that it is very difficult for us to tell you your position on the waitlist outside of our enrolment periods. If you are next on our waitlist, we will contact you when a spot becomes available.

We enroll throughout the year as spots become available, but the majority of our spots open up from July-September for the next school year when our Senior preschools graduate.

If you are looking for a Junior Preschool spot (aged 2.5-3) beginning July-October, we suggest reaching out in by April as the spots do fill up quickly.

If we have a spot available and your child is next on the waitlist, we will contact you via email to book a virtual tour with the Director. During the tour, you will be given information about all of our programs and have the opportunity to virtually walk through the daycare and ask as many questions as you have. You will also be permitted to arrange a date and time to do a in person walk through after the virtual tour. You will be given 48 hours to decide whether you are interested in the spot before we move to the next family on our waitlist.

To reserve a spot, you will be required to pay a non-refundable $500 enrolment fee. When your child begins, you will also be required to pay a one-month security deposit that will be used towards the last month of daycare.

Our notice period for withdrawal is a minimum of 60 days written notice. Deposit amounts will not be refunded and any notice of less than 60 days will result in a forfeit of the remainder of your deposit. Please note a child’s last day must fall at the end of the month – we do not prorate for a child leaving earlier in the month. More than 60 days’ notice is also always appreciated. Payment by the parent/guardian is due for the notice period whether or not the child is brought to the provider for care.

Payment is accepted by check, cash or Interac e-transfers to info@learninggarden.ca with password “tuition”. Payment is due on or before the 1st of each month.

Any vacation or sick days require payment as your child’s spot is still being held.

Learning Garden Childcare is closed for all statutory holidays and for Civic holiday. In the event that a statutory holiday falls on a weekend, Learning Garden Childcare will be closed either the Friday preceding or the Monday following the holiday, in lieu of the statutory holiday itself. A timely notice will be given to families in advance of each holiday. Any personal vacation taken will still require payment as the child’s spot is being held.

We close annually for two common weeks in the year. Please note tuition is not reduced for these months and is due in full. Learning Garden Childcare closes for the Holidays the week between Christmas and New Year’s (December 25-January 1) with an early 12pm closure on December 24th. Our annual summer closure week will always be the week before Civic Holiday with the Centre reopening the Tuesday following Civic holiday. For planning purposes, the summer closure week for the next 3 years are:

July 31-August 4, 2023
July 29-August 2, 2024
July 28-August 1, 2025

While we support reduced child care costs for parents, this cannot come at the expense of operators. We will be continuing to work with the Ontario Association of Independent Childcare Centres (OAICC) to fight for fair terms, and we highly encourage that parents continue to make your voices heard and support a permanent fee replacement model (or funding going directly to parents!) which is fair to both daycares and to parents, and also sustainable in the long term.