Plymouth Childcare Center Starts Care for School-Age Children
Under normal circumstances, the classrooms at Little Newtons in Plymouth would be filled specifically with preschool-age kids.
But since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, things have been anything but normal. That’s why when schools closed last spring, this childcare center opened its doors to school-age children for the first time.
“I think it’s important to have teachers teach, parents do the parenting, students do the learning,” said Krissy Finco, chief operating officer of Little Newtons.
She says that with parents struggling to manage both full-time jobs and full-time childcare, switching gears was the right thing to do.
“The feedback from the parents has been extremely positive,” Finco said. “Very appreciative, because they can continue on in a somewhat normal fashion with still going to work and things like that, knowing that their children are learning and safe at our center.”
Room for More School-age Kids
At Little Newtons’ five locations, they have roughly two dozen school-age kids enrolled, with room for more. The staff has put an academic curriculum in place for the kids to not only to help prevent summer brain drain, but also the so-called COVID-19 slide.
School-age children sit down for a lesson at Little Newtons in Plymouth.
“We wanted to ensure that we’re still challenging them,” Finco said. “With the school-age program it’s still a bigger age range for most childcare centers, so it’s important to have the ability to modify and challenge where they need to be so we keep them academically on top.”
All the while, staff members stay on top of their cleaning regimen to help keep everyone in the building safe. Little Newtons has had no COVID-19 cases in its five locations.
“We do regular deep cleaning sprays throughout the center regularly,” she said. “We have hand sanitation at all of our doors, we do temp checks when the children get dropped off in the morning.”
In addition, the kids stay mostly in their assigned classrooms to maintain social distancing.
Meanwhile, with the uncertainty lingering about what the next school year will look like, Little Newtons will continue to do its part to help.
“We absolutely are willing to offer, and will be offering, through the fall whatever is needed to support our families and staff,” Finco said.
