The program offered by RisingOaks Early Learning is a reflection of research, theory and practice and is consistent with Ministry of Education policies, pedagogy and curriculum. As we continue to explore curriculum and advance our pedagogical leadership, we reference the following Ministry documents.

• How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years
• Ontario Early Years Framework
• Think Feel Act: Lessons from Research about Young Children
• Early Learning for Every Child Today

Our educators use How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years to guide their practice. How Does Learning Happen? is a professional learning resource guide — provided by the Ministry of Education. It is about learning through relationships for those working with young children and families. How Does Learning Happen? is intended to support pedagogy and curriculum/program development in RisingOaks’ program.

Pedagogy is “the understanding of how learning takes place and the philosophy and practice that support the understanding of learning”. Curriculum (the content of learning) and pedagogy (how learning happens) in early years settings are shaped by views about children, the role of educators and families, and relationships among them. How Does Learning Happen? helps RisingOaks' educators “focus on these interrelationships in the context of early years environments.”

Consistent with the Minister of Education’s policy, our educators view children at all ages to be capable, competent, curious and rich in potential.

• We believe that children are capable of informed risk-taking and increasing independence within appropriate environments.
• We know that children are competent and able to question, examine and investigate a wide variety of topics and areas of interest.
• We value children’s curiosity and sense of wonder and know that children learn valuable skills through play.

We believe that children come with lived experience and knowledge; that they are co-learners in our program. Our educators recognize and provide individualized support for each child as they grow and develop at their own pace — supporting each child to reach their full potential.

How Does Learning Happen? speaks to four foundations that are important for children to grow and develop in order to reach their full potential.

1. Belonging refers to a sense of connectedness to others, an individual’s experiences of being valued, of forming relationships with others and making contributions as part of a group, a community, the natural world.
2. Well-being addresses the importance of physical and mental health and wellness. It incorporates capacities such as self-care, sense of self, and self-regulation skills.
3. Engagement suggests a state of being involved and focused. When children are able to explore the world around them with their natural curiosity and exuberance, they are fully engaged. Through this type of play and inquiry, they develop skills such as problem solving, creative thinking, and innovating, which are essential for learning and success in school and beyond.
4. Expression or communication (to be heard, as well as to listen) may take many different forms. Through their bodies, words, and use of materials, children develop capacities for increasingly complex communication. Opportunities to explore materials support creativity, problem solving, and mathematical behaviours. Language-rich environments support growing communication skills, which are foundational for literacy.

The four foundations inform the goals for RisingOaks’ program

Our educators use recognized pedagogical approaches to support children’s learning and development in achieving our program goals. These approaches are explained below and apply across many of the goals listed in the next section:

Responsive relationships

• A responsive relationship is one that creates and builds a sense of trust, a healthy sense of self and encourages self-regulation. This relationship is developed between the child, their family and the Registered Early Childhood Educator.

Learning through exploration, play and inquiry

• Educators build upon the children’s interests by providing materials for exploration. Educators assist children in seeking answers to their questions.
• Hands-on play is the foundation of the learning and development.

Project Approach

• Is an inquiry-based learning approach where children initiate an interest in the specific topic. Educators support the learning through scaffolding, research, investigation (field study) and reflection
• Educators plan curriculum that engages children in a more thorough investigation of their topic of interest

Educators as co-learners

• Educators go beyond giving answers or asking questions they already know the answer to. They become a partner, a co-researcher — learning along with the children through inquiry and exploration.

Environment as third teacher

• The child’s environment is set-up with open-ended materials that can be manipulated, investigated and provide exploration through the five senses.
• The environment allows for child-initiated exploration and play

Pedagogical documentation

• A visible record of what the children and educators have been researching and investigating through curriculum.
• Allows for reflection, questioning and discussion on a specified topic of interest
• It is a reflection of developmental growth over a period of time.

Reflective practice and collaborative inquiry

• Intentional and thoughtful
• Closely observing and studying; uses a thinking lens
• Allows educators to make meaningful decisions about how to respond to children’s interests

On the right, you will find our Program Statement Goals. Each expands to showcase our approach and strategies that educators use in implementing care, activities and curriculum to achieve stated goals. Essentially the approaches speak to what you might “see” in the program, as well as things we’ve put in place behind the scenes towards achieving each goal.

RisingOaks’ management and administrative team supports educators in their Mission of providing play-based early learning to support each child to realize their potential while giving families peace of mind. We do this by

Program Evaluation

• RisingOaks participates in 3rd party program evaluations. Each program is evaluated every three years by an external auditor. In addition, supervisors and staff use environmental rating scales twice per year to evaluate their program.
• Members (i.e., parents) also participate in evaluating our programs through the annual member survey.
• With a focus on continuous improvement, each centre has an ongoing action plan that addresses any areas for improvement. RisingOaks also identifies organization-wide priorities.

Performance Monitoring

• Each employee receives an annual performance review. In addition, 2-3 developmental objectives are mutually agreed upon by the employee and their supervisor. The employee’s progress on those objectives are reviewed twice per year.
  • This Program Statement will now help inform RisingOaks’ performance review process.
• When areas of concerns continue to be seen, RisingOaks may choose to issue a developmental focus where the supervisor provides short-term, intensive coaching to support an employee to raise the level of their practice.
• The Ministry of Education, through its annual licensing assessment, measures RisingOaks’ performance on a multitude of requirements outlined in the Child Care & Early Years Act.
• The executive director monitors compliance to RisingOaks policies. An audit is conducted annually with each policy being reviewed every three years.

Document & Review Impact

• In addition to the pedagogical documentation that is displayed in the classroom, RisingOaks is required to document and review the impact of our approaches towards meeting our goals. One way we do this is through our annual Member Survey.
  • Parents are asked to evaluate RisingOaks on communication, learning activities, the skills their child learns are RisingOaks and much more. Survey results – including open-ended responses, give us an indication of impact.
• As we continue to refine this program statement additional methods for documenting and reviewing the impact will be defined.

Annual Review

• Per the Ministry’s direction, RisingOaks shall ensure that all new employees, students and volunteers review this Program Statement upon hire or before their placement begins. Additionally, all employees, students and volunteers will review this Program Statement annually, and after any modifications.

The Program Statement Implementation policy sets out requirements and procedures to ensure that the approaches outlined in this Program Statement are implemented within our program and that the stated view of the child is observable in the program.

Responsibility for monitoring this policy rests with the centre supervisor and with the Executive Director monitoring compliance.