Centre des Petits d'Ottawa (2005) inc.

Nos deux enfants ont frequenté le centre des Petits entre 2011-2018. Nous avons été très satisfaits du Centre et surtout de la programmation (ex: le programme préscolaire qui prépare très bien les enfants pour la Maternelle!), et aussi de la qualité des éducatrices qui sont patientes et gentilles avec les enfants. Certains règlements internes pourraient paraître rigide pour les parents, c'est vrai que nous avons questionné certaines politiques (ex: le dodo ou la fermeture du centre en cas de tempête de neige) mais n'oublions pas que ces évenements sont rares et que les politiques varient de garderie en garderie. Il suffit de communiquer si jamais nous avons des questions ou inquétudes avec un membre du personnel car ils sont toujours a l'écoute et prêts pour trouver une solution qui convient a tous (c'est exceptionnel la qualité de l'écoute et le suivi fait par les éducatrices c'est une experience très personalisée). Nous sentons que tout le monde au Centre des Petits ont comme but commun de donner une excellente expérience pour nos tout-petits. Nous nous trouvons très chanceux d'avoir trouvé une garderie Francophone tout près de notre maison. Merci a tout le personnel du CDP pour ces belles années et tous vos activités enrichissantes pour nos enfants. Tracy

Les educatrices etaient bonnes et font un grand effort, on a vraiment apprécié ca! mais coté administration c' est vraiment pas le cas. ils ont des lois internes propres a eux. Par exemple meme AVEC PRESCRIPTION MÉDICALE ils donnent pas l'antibiotique a ton enfant et tu seras obligé de sortir de ton travail ou étude durant l'heure de diner pour venir lui donner son medicament. Aussi si il a beaucoup neigé durant les 24h (20 cm de neige) ils vont fermer! ce qui n'a jamais était le cas avec toutes les autres garderies que je connais! Autre chose aussi; quand mon enfant était a la classe des poupons la sortie était de 10 a 11h le matin. Si par hazard tu arrives avec ton enfant a 10h30 il faut que tu attends jusqu'a que les educatrices rentrent a 11h ou meme apres car elles prennent les enfants dans les poussettes et vont faire une longue promenade. Ca m'est arrivé plusieurs fois quand mon bebe avait rdv avec le medecin et j'arrive a la garderie apres 10h: on n'a pas accepté mon bebe car les educatrices sont dehors et il faut attendre leur arrivée alors qu'on paye pour toute la journée!! Alors pour mon expérience, je DECONSEILLE vivement ce centre si vous etes etudiants ou vous travaillez pour temps plein.

Je suis éducatrice au CDP depuis presque un an et je vais le quitter à contre coeur (pour des raisons familliales).j'ai travaillé plus de 5 ans dans des centres de garde d'enfants et je n'ai jamais vu une aussi bonne ambiance de travail .L'administration est très bien gérée et très proche de nous et des parents des enfants et surtout le respect et le travail en équipe qui règnent au sein du centre qui m'ont marquée le plus.Je remercie tout le monde pour cette belle ambiance de travail et je vous souhaite une très bonne continuation

Ma fille a fréquenté le CDP pendant tout son parcours de garderie. Ses éducatrices étaient fantastiques et sympathiques. La programmation était exceptionnelle avec un beau mélange d’activités structurées et jeux libres. Il y avait aussi une communication quotidienne avec les parents par entremise d’agenda ainsi qu’une description hebdomadaire des activités planifiées. Ceci donnait un excellent aperçu de la journée. Le programme préscolaire et maternelle 3 ans a été une très belle préparation pour l’école, et ma fille aimait toujours aller à la garderie. Le local est vieux (sans air conditionné), mais il y a eu plusieurs rénovations et le personnel est super! La structure de l’administration est un peu compliquée à comprendre, mais en s’impliquant au conseil d’établissement, il est possible de partager des idées d’améliorations. Un gros merci au personnel du CDP qui a créé un environnement enrichissant et positif pour ma fille! Claire & Nick

Super staff thank you for everything.

We had a mixed experience at this daycare. The front line staff dealing with the children was excellent, and I can not emphasize that enough, but the management of the daycare was poor and we felt it was overpriced given that the management was absent (he was running for political office at the time) and was confrontational with the parents who brought up concerns. There was a lot of weirdness that happened during our time at this daycare that raised red flags for us. First was a ministry finding that the daycare was not ordering enough food for the kids. Second, the general meeting for the parents were they were going to review the findings of a parents committee on governance improvements was cancelled and not rescheduled. While we were not on the parents commitee, as we were new, this point was really problematic for a lot of the parents there longer. Third, during the one year we were at this daycare the director of the daycare switched three times - just some days we would arrive at the day care and the director was gone with no real explanation as to why, there was never any good byes or going away parties as there would be normally in such transitions. What I was left with was the impression that the owner was in the process of asserting full control over the daycare which was previously run in partnership with the parents. It seemed to be a slow process that he was implementing over a series of years in order to reduce the formal role of the parents in the daycare, when previously they were highly involved, so that it become less of a community run daycare and more his daycare -- which was a shame because he was so uninvolved when we were there. In the end there was no trust between ourselves and the manager of this daycare. The financial structure of the daycare when we were they was such that the non-profit daycare was paying the owner's for-profit management company for his management services, which had its head office at the daycare building. The non-profit was effectively controlled by the owner of the for profit company located at the daycare, thus in my opinion it was a pretty strange non-profit. The daycare also employed the manager's wife as both a program director as well as an educator. I do not know how much they made. I do know that the owner, when he did show up to daycare, which when we were there was once or twice a week, he drove his Porsche convertible. We removed our child from this daycare early, and even paid a penalty for doing so, and so did many of our peers in the class we were in, and went to another daycare. We found a daycare where the management was fully engaged and whose interests aligned with the parents. It also operated like a standard non-profit in that the people attending the daycare had a true say in how the company operated, the full financials where shared, parents were board members if they wanted to be and parents could vote at the general annual meeting -- it was completely unlike the setup at Centre des Petits. There was also no drama like there was at Centre des Petits, because who needs drama at a daycare.

This is my kids' second home. They are welcomed every day by a wonderful staff who is like family, love and caring. Also, I love that kids are in an environment that develops their little minds, and are taught to enjoy learning, good manners and social skills.

Both my daughters attended from the age of 12 months. There are pros and cons to this centre. I’ll start with the pros. The caregivers who have been there for some time (Marie, Sylla, Jeanne D’Arc, Henriette, Jeannette etc.) are fabulous. They are professional, kind and loving and I always knew that whatever happened during the day, my girls would be safe and loved. That’s a HUGE factor in my score on this place. Other good things are the location (nice play area and structure for the kids to use, residential area, large classrooms and although old, very functional for the little ones), and the hours (7:30-6). The lunch food is repetitive and not terribly interesting which is too bad because introducing kids to different foods when they’re young is so important, but my kids never complained. Also, I did feel like my kids learned things - of course it is play-based, but the centre prepped my girls for school very well. My girls also got lots of physical activity, either outside or indoors in a large room dedicated to just that. Then there are the cons. (1) The administration is terrible. And not just forgetful or disorganized, but also rude. The centre could very clearly use someone with business management skills and education because the potential is there. It is just run by people who seem to know absolutely nothing about managing a child care centre. (2) Staff turnover seems high to me, with some exceptions. (3) the quality of the French is often questionable. There were posters with terrible grammar and spelling on the walls, and email communications were full of those as well. Clearly not a huge issue, but just know that for many who work there, French is not their first language. (4) There is no air conditioning in the building and in the summer heat it can be sweltering. (5) There really aren’t any outings for the older kids, despite what the administration says. Only one of my daughters ever went anywhere and it was to the fire station. With a library and splash pads not too far, I would have preferred if the kids had actually done some of that. (6) Unless you ask or unless there’s an incident, you really don’t get an end of day report on how your child’s day was. You have to press the staff for details. There’s an agenda but what they write in there is formulaic and often does not actually reflect your kid’s day. A very useless exercise. Really hopeful this is helpful for parents looking for a daycare centre!