School FAQs
How to get TOPP KIDS in our school?

If you are interested in getting a TOPP KIDS program in your school, please contact us. We will be happy to answer all of your questions!

  • A TOPP KIDS program in your school provides a convenient, much-needed service to your parents, providing potential for new registrations and often increasing a schools enrollment rates.
  • A major focus of our programs is to build community connection within our programs, the school, and surrounding community. We encourage children and parent involvement through many special events, fundraisers, and volunteering opportunities.
  • A Before and After School program located directly in your school ensures enhanced safety of your students, limiting unsupervised travel time and encouraging age-appropriate, engaging after-school activities – maximizing & enhancing the critical hours that exist between school & home.

Its hard to sum everything we do up into a quick paragraph… theres just sooooo much! – Check out these links:

Before & After School Programs

Kindi-Club Programs

Program Highlights

Leadership Programs

  • Our programs boost family and school interaction and engagement
  • Our programs are convenient
  • Our programs emphasize leadership in children
  • Our programs provide engaging and stimulating environments
  • Our programs focus on building better communities
  • Our programs are fully accredited!
  • Our programs provide students with a safe place to go before and after school, hands-on learning experiences, and help with homework. We also ensure opportunities for physical activity, allow students to engage with positive role models, and help them gain valuable life skills. These programs are crucial supports for working parents that help keep families connected to their the school and wider community.
  • Our programs provide care on early dismissal days, P.D. Days, and Spring Break. We are closed during winter break and statutory holidays. Summer Camp operates separately from the school, usually out of a local community centre.

All of our programs are set-up and take-down style by design. We store our custom made furniture is the storage space provided by the school so that the licenced space can be used by the school during school hours.

Typically we are outdoors for the Health & Wellness portion of our morning 15 mins before the morning bell (weather permitting) and we typically set up in the afternoon 10 mins before the afternoon bell (school permitting). This way we ensure minimal, if any, impact on the schools schedule .

Children come from their classes strait to our licenced space and sign in from there bringing with them all of their belongings. This way families are not moving around the school after hours.

You bet! We’re not just inclusive we are integrative.

Some of the participants in our programs need help developing and growing their communities. Social skills and group interactions can be barriers to inclusion, and our Educators are in place in programs to help particularly with these children, but also in the group as a whole.

Although the children in our programs come from a larger community in the schools they attend, they do not necessarily come into our programs with a set inclusive community. Educators are trained to grow and foster this community and help children come together as a cohesive group.

We try to ensure that each child is striving toward reaching their greatest potential by helping to maintain their dignity in all situations, providing opportunities for relationship and community development and growth, giving each child responsibility within their individual capacity, and helping to grow and maintain self-esteem.

 

Community is actually right where you are! It is not something you can leave and go back to. It is where you journey, it is the path you walk. It is at home, on the bus, at work, at school, at a coffee shop or walking home. It is the people around you, wherever your day leads.’

– Cara Milne-

For more information Contact Us today.

TOPP KIDS Out of School Clubs are extremely accommodating when it comes to the space needed inside of each school, however, there are a few necessities we need to have in order to run our program effectively. They are as follows:

  • Storage area (must be close to the main area of use and large enough to store our equipment/ furniture).
  • Blackboard/Whiteboard or Cork Board (licencing standards state that we must have a place to openly communicate with families and post important licences/ certifications/ etc.).
  • Easily accessible tables and chairs (enough seating is needed for the maximum number of children attending the program).
  • Alternative space(s) (large enough to accommodate the children in the program if the main area of use is being utilized by the school).
  • Great communication (we always love to have an open line of communication with our schools so that everyone is on the same page about upcoming school events, concerns or praise. Always makes for a healthy working relationship).

2-4 months (provided there are no issues with city permits).

In this time we create your custom program, advertise to the community, create our team and become pre-accredited with the Government of Alberta.

 

The months that TOPP KIDS typically open new programs for are September and January.

See what a custom program looks like! Take a look at our equipment in some of our current programs here:

At TOPP KIDS, children’s safety is our utmost concern. Our environment is designed to eliminate risks to children’s safety and health. We ensure toys are in proper shape and sanitize regularly, as well as implement health policies to minimize illnesses.

Our staff complete intensive training to ensure active and effective supervision, as well as hold at least the minimum CDA certification with the province and First Aid training.

In our Before and After School programs, our maximum staff to child ratio is 1:15. In our Kindi programs, our maximum staff to child ratio is 1:10. Our goal is to always have more staff to children than minimally required.

The number of children in our programs depends on space, but most of our programs are licensed for 60 children.

Our programs open at 7am and close at 6pm. We design the rest of our schedule to meet your school’s bell times and early dismissal days!

All of our employees undergo a comprehensive multi-day training process and continuous on-site training in our programs. Staff hold minimally Child Development Assistant certification, with many holding higher certification.

We do offer great benefits to our employees as well as continuous professional development opportunities, often with multiple workshop opportunities each week.

We encourage our families to bring a double-stuffed lunch with extra snacks each day to ensure they have the fuel they need to make it through the day! We have emergency snacks on hand but do not provide daily snacks.

TOPP KIDS only accepts children who are enrolled in your school. We have a Waitlist Procedures Policy that is not first come, first served but instead is based on other factors. You can see the full procedures here.

Occasionally, families experiencing extenuating circumstances or have exceptional needs come to us. We work with the Program Coordinator and our Support Team to meet and support their needs and support however possible.

Yes! All of our programs complete the rigorous Alberta Child Care Accreditation to ensure we have the highest-quality programs.  New programs will be considered Pre-Accredited as they complete the first year of the Accreditation process.

Our programs accept children Kindergarten to Grade 6! This includes children ages 6-12. We invite older participants to return as volunteers and mentors to the children in our programs as a way to continue to build leadership in our community!

Yes! You can view our handbook here!