MEDFIELD CHILDREN’S CENTER ON PLEASANT STREET
FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS
1.
How long has the Center been in business? Since
1982.
2. Does the Center have any certifications or accreditations? We are certified by the Department of Early Education and Care (formerly OCCS).
3.
What are your hours?
9:00 am-11:30 am (optional lunch until 12:30 pm) and 12:30
pm-3:00 pm (optional lunch from 11:45am-12:30 pm).
4.
What is your holiday
schedule?
We take off all major holidays, and are closed when
the ENTIRE Medfield school system is closed due to
inclement weather. We are
open from the second week of September through the second week of June.
5.
How flexible are pickup and drop-off times? For the morning program, drop-off time is promptly
at 9:00 and pickup time is at
11:30 or 12:30, depending on your child’s lunch schedule. For the
afternoon program, drop-off time is at 11:45 or 12:30, depending on the lunch
schedule, and pickup time is at 3:00.
6. What are your fees, and when does billing occur? There is a set yearly fee broken down into 10 installment payments. Billing starts in July before the school year begins, with the first and last payment installments being due.
7.
Do you encourage visits from parents? Parents
may visit MCC as often as they would like.
8.
What do you
expect from me as a parent?
We value and expect open communication between MCC and our
families
in order to provide the best experience possible for the child.
Specific expectations can be found in your
Parent
Handbook.
9.
What are the staff’s
credentials and training?
Each classroom teacher is certified by the Department of
Early Education and Care (formerly OCCS) in Early Childhood education. Also, we
are all certified yearly in CPR and every 3 years in First Aid. We do monthly
readings and attend monthly meetings on pertinent topics in Early Childhood
Education.
10.
What
is staff turnover like? We
have staff that has been here as long as 16 years!
The average stay this year is 6 years.
We are very proud
that our turnover rate is unusually low.
11.
How
do you screen staff? The
Director does an initial interview with the candidate, then a working interview.
The interviewee spends the
morning with a group of children, observed by the Director and other
staff members. It is important for us to get a good teacher, and also a
good co-worker. References
are carefully checked also.
12.
How
are the children grouped? The
children are put into groups by age, using August 31st as the cut-off
date because that is Medfield’s cut-off
date for Kindergarten.
13.
What
is the teacher-child ratio? 1/12
with a teacher’s aide (in the AM only) and a non-teaching director on premise.
14.
What
is your educational philosophy? We
operate a “traditional” preschool in that we celebrate all birthdays, holidays and special events (i.e.
Fire Prevention Week). We do a nice
mix of teacher-directed and child-directed activities.
15.
How
do you discipline a child? We
redirect a child 2 times and if the
child is still upset or unable to settle down, he or she is asked to sit in a chair
for two minutes of "time out". If
the child, after this, is still unable to join the group, he or she may be asked
to go to the Director’s office so as not to distract the rest of the children
in the class.
16.
How
do you comfort a child? We
give lots of hugs and kisses. We
sit them in our laps and gently talk to the child who is upset.
17.
What will my child be doing on any given day?
All children attend our educational program from 9:00
am-11:30 am. During this time the child will do an art project based on the
theme of the week. Our
daily schedule is
flexibly structured to include Circle Time, Free Play Time and Project Time,
Cleanup Time, Story Time, Snack Time and Outdoor Play Time (weather permitting).
18. What
about extra curricular
activities?
For enrichment, we
do have outside people come to our Center. Our Pre-K classes attend a
presentation from the Audubon Society once a month for a nature presentation.
Our Nursery classes benefit from having the Gymboree program come once a month
to do a Music and
Movement Program. For special events such as Fire Prevention week, we may bring
in a Fire Fighter or Smokey the Bear to educate the children on fire safety.
Parents with special vocations are always welcome to share their knowledge. We
do not take outside field trips.
19. What
role, if any does television have at the Center?
On very rare occasions, we may show a video,
related to our curriculum theme.
20. Do
you have sign-in and sign-out sheets? Yes, we have our daily attendance book
that the teachers keep. The parents
are not required to sign in or out.
21. Are
the doors secure so that strangers cannot just walk in?
Due to the fact that we are in a church, we cannot lock all the
doors because parishioners need access
to the church office. However, our
teachers are very diligent in watching at all times who comes in and out of the
building.
22. What
is your sick policy? We do
not allow sick children to attend school.
In the Parent
Handbook, there is a fairly extensive “exclusion” policy that we strictly adhere to.
23. Do
you have a safe enclosed outside play area?
Yes, we have a wonderful fenced-in outside play
area. If at all possible, we
station one teacher at
the gate when children are playing in the yard.
24. How
often are toys cleaned and replaced? There is no set schedule. This is done on an "as-needed" basis. If a toy has been in a child’s
mouth, it is cleaned. If a
class has a few children with "pink-eye", all the toys will be cleaned.
25. Do
you provide lunch? The
children bring in their own lunches. We
neither heat nor refrigerate lunches. We
ask that you do not send in candy, but
do send in napkins, spoons, forks, or straws as needed.
26. Do you provide snack? We provide morning and afternoon snack. It could be crackers, microwave popcorn or cookies to give some examples. Our snack schedule is posted. We also provide 100% juice or water, whichever your child prefers.
27. Are you peanut-free? No, our school is not but we offer peanut-free tables. Those children who may be allergic to any type of food are asked to provide their own daily snacks.