Hi can anyone recommend good daycare centres for a 1 year old and a 3 year old in Burnaby, we will be staying in Union Street!

Thank you

Louise

pm Kiwi lass - she is in the area and has been utilising child cared at various times

Will do thanku!!

ps - are you here yet ?

Not yet! My OH is though so he could go check them out, our flight is booked for 24th Aug!!

Is it east Van u r? how lond have u been out, r u enjoying it x

Yup am in E Van near Renfrew Station, Kiwi is in Burnaby Heights, so we can meet up with you when you arrive, coffee , wine etc. . . .

I like it now - I found it hard to start, but my kids were older and they didnt meed me to take them to school etc. . .

HI Louisey!

Yay, another expat in our neck of woods! You can ignore my PM now cos I see you are in Burnaby.

Right now I have my daughter with a mum at her school due to lack of spaces in daycares I would be happy with nearby.

The daycares I know of don't have a lot of space. There is one, PUddlejumpers, http://puddlejumpersburnaby.com/ that might have space...I'm not sure about it tho. You should probably check it out and make up your own mind. They do not take infants though - if I were in your shoes I'd look for a good homedaycare because they are more likely to take infants as well as toddlers. Don't be put off if it isn't licensed.

Also check out Willingdon Community Centre http://www.burnaby.ca/cityhall/depar...illingdon.html It's a good place to go with young kids.

Eileen Dailly Pool is not far from you.

Loads of parks - COnfederation Park is a big one.

Also you're close-ish to Hastings Community Centre

http://vancouver.ca/parks/cc/hastings/index.htm

It has a really good mum/kid drop in, also a good place to find out if there's home daycares nearby. If I hear of anything I'll let you know.

Any questions feel free to bug me.

http://www.reachforthestarsmontessori.com/boundary.html

My friend has her 2 year old here, she recommends it.

glad u stuck it out

Aww shucks - we uist drink sooooon . . .but my rents arrive AGAIn on Friday for 2 weeks. . . . .

Hi there,

The Vancouver Sun has a database of all the licenced daycares in the Metro Vancouver area. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/daycare-search.html
The database will provide you with a rating scale - based upon health and safety inspections of the daycare.

I would stay clear of unlicenced daycares unless you know the person well! I always question a place the doesn't brother to license themselves.

The ratios of teacher to student varies depending upon the daycare you choose. Infant/Toddler - 4 kids per adult, 3 to 5 is 8 kids per adult. Home daycare is between 7 to 8 (all kids). Unlicensed is 2 kids max plus any children that live in the house. The best time to register a child is in the summer for September. The good places fill up!

Also, daycare is expensive; however up to approximately $7500.00 per child can be claimed against your income to provide you with a tax return in April.

Good Luck.

The problem with this database is it doesn't really tell you anything about how the daycare is run - it just tells you how it does for health & safety, and it's also somewhat subjective as it depends what kind of inspector you get. I disagree with your comments about unlicensed daycares - as I have said previously, the one bad experience I had was in a fully licensed centre. Of course every parent should do their homework, and often word of mouth is key. People don't get licensed for all kinds of reasons - you can't and shouldn't assume because someone is unlicensed they are bad at what they do. After my bad experience my child went to an unlicensed carer - someone I had watched for years while at home and knew to be a very good carer. But I agree you should check out the person.

Louisey - FYI the daycare link I gave your for the reach for the stars montessori - they still have spaces - just sayin' - might be a good opportunity.

Thanku all,

Im doing my homework checking out all these sites!!

Great help, thanks again

Louise xx