HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt Public School Childcare Centre is undergoing two large spurts of growth.
On March 1, the centre took control of the Humboldt Co-operative Daycare Centre at St. Augustine School. Renamed Bright Starts Early Learning Centre, it has 46 licensed spaces.
Then the provincial and federal governments announced funding for a new location on March 16 that will have 40 additional spaces.
The HPS Childcare Centre has 56 licensed spaces.
“There's a huge need for licensed childcare in Humboldt right now and we've wanted to expand for quite some time,” said Melissa Sand, the executive director of the Humboldt Public School Childcare Centre.
“The opportunity came for us to apply for more spaces, so we did that, applied to the government for a second site. Then we had the opportunity to open to work with the Humboldt Co-operative Daycare, and then to have that as part of our company as well.”
New site
The HPS Childcare Centre will receive approximately $355,000 to develop the new site. Of that funding, $320,000 will be used to either build or renovate a space, while $34,440 will assist with start-up expenses like equipment, furnishings and health and fire inspections.
Sand said it was exciting to learn they received the funding.
“It was a little bit stressful to think about everything that needs to get done, but mostly [we were] very excited for the community of Humboldt and being able to have more children in licensed childcare since we do have such a long waitlist.”
The HPS Childcare Centre is now in the process of deciding where the new site will be. The hope is to have it operational within the next two years.
The funding was part of a province-wide announcement of developing 1,202 new childcare spaces in 21 Saskatchewan communities. The additional spaces are part of a shared goal between the federal and provincial governments to create 28,000 new child care spaces in the province by the end of March 2026.
The federal government is providing Saskatchewan with nearly $1.1 billion over five years, all with the goal of bringing fees for regulated child care down to $10/day on average.
Bright Starts
The Humboldt Co-operative Daycare Centre has been licensed and incorporated in Humboldt since 1975.
“That company has provided care for this community for upwards of 46 years, and we're excited to continue that quality care with them under our company,” Sand said.
Sand said they were looking to expand, while the Humboldt Co-operative Daycare Centre was looking at new approaches.
“Both boards just worked together and just thought that this was a good route to go down to keep these spaces in the community and keep providing quality care,” she said.
Bright Starts has a new centre manager, who previously worked at the HPS Childcare Centre, plus a couple of other new staff.
“We have implemented all of our policies, handbooks and programming that we have at Humboldt Public School Childcare Centre and that is all all over at Bright Starts now too, you can expect the same quality programming and policies and everything at Bright Starts as you do at Humboldt Public School Childcare Centre,” Sand said.
