Parent Handbook

WELCOME TO OUR PROGRAM!

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Our goal at Little Angels is to provide the community with a quality Preschool and Childcare program.  

We offer a safe, loving and nurturing environment supported by a structured educational program, which will have a lasting influence on your child. It is our goal to create a safe place to celebrate differences and create an inclusive environment for all children and their families.

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Hours & Service

We provide care for children ages 2 to 6 years old. We are open Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm. Diapers are ok. We provide assistance in potty training of children.

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Program, Activities & Objectives

Our program focuses on giving each child the opportunity to learn and grow using all of their five developmental areas: Physical, Emotional, Cognitive, Social and Creative. Our theme based curriculum is used by our teachers to plan a variety of activities.  In each classroom a weekly and/or monthly lesson plan is posted for parents to be able to see what their child will be learning. A daily schedule (seen below) is in place to form a sense of routine for children however, when given the opportunity to go with a teachable moment our staff will adjust events to accommodate the needs of the class. Little Angels is also understanding that not all children develop and learn in the same way so a teacher may also adapt activities or lesson plans to meet the needs of all children in the class.

Activities & Curriculum 

Grace and courtesy in the classroom, social skills, lessons in music, literature, arts & crafts, science, physical education, dramatic play, Kindergarten readiness, outdoor exploration, and physical motor skills

Purpose & Objectives

To help each child:

• Acquire readiness skills for education & life

• Increase his/her ability to express his/herself clearly

• Develop large and small muscle control

• Learn good health habits

• Learn harmonious social skills through work and play

• Accept responsibilities within a group setting

• Develop a positive self image

• Show love, acceptance, and respect for others and the environment

Non-Discrimination Policy

Little Angels Children’s Center admits students of any race, color, religion, sex, disability, national and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, and other school-administered programs.

Admission & Enrollment

Enrollment is open to children who are 2 to 6 years old.

Children will be appropriately placed in a classroom based on the age of the child.

Admission into the program requires that parents visit the Preschool and complete all of the required forms. A minimum of one pre-enrollment interview will be conducted with the Director, child and parents/guardians. In order to meet state licensing regulations, we require that all forms be completed and returned to us before the first day of school. Enrollment into the program is not complete until all of the following items have been received by the Director:

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• Little Angels Children’s Center Admission Agreement

• Notification of Parent’s Rights form (LIC 995)

• Personal Rights form (LIC 613A)

• Identification & Emergency Information (Child Care Centers) (LIC 700)

• Consent for Emergency Medical Treatment form(LIC 627)

• Child’s Preadmission Health History –Parents Report (LIC 702)

• Physician’s Report –Child Care Centers (LIC 701)

• Immunization requirements

• Needs and services plan(for children with special needs)

• Child abuse prevention pamphlet receipt

• All applicable registration, materials, and tuition fees

• Interview with the Director

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A $150 registration fee for each child enrolled must be accompanied with the application. The registration fee is non-refundable. After enrolling your child, should you decide to remove him/her and then re-enroll; another fee will then be charged.

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Immunizations/Physician’s Report Requirement

Children may not begin our program until they have received all of the immunizations required by the State of California for entrance into an early childhood program.

A physician-verified immunization card(s) must be presented at the time of enrollment showing that all childhood immunizations have been received. A signed Physician’s Report which states that your child is in good physical health, must also be turned in to our office prior to your child's start date.

Tuition Policies

A non refundable registration fee of $150 is due upon application. 

Monthly or twice monthly tuition payments are due in advance of attendance, on the 1st and/or the 15th day of each month. Statements are not issued. Parents are responsible for all payments. If you have made arrangements for someone else, such as grandparents or a community agency, it is still your responsibility as the parent to make certain that it is paid on time.

The fee is the same regardless of the actual number of days of attendance and payment is required whether or not a child is present or absent. THERE ARE NO REFUNDS, with the following exception.

• If a child is on vacation and the Director is personally notified or given at least one week advance notice, half payment is deducted when the vacation lasts a calendar week or more. This reserves the child’s place at the center.​

***A late fee of $20 must be given to the staff if the child is picked up past 5pm.

Holiday Schedule

The holiday schedule will be posted each calendar year on our bulletin board, our website, and Facebook page.

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Termination or Withdrawal

A two-week written notice must be given when dropping your child from the preschool. If a two-week notice has not been given to the Director prior to your child’s termination of services, you will be charged full fees for those two weeks.

The preschool also reserves the right to terminate Childcare services if, in the judgment of the Teacher and the Director:

• A child is aggressive toward other children and causes harm to others or self.

• An inordinate amount of the Teacher’s time is needed to attend to a particular child’s special situation, to an extent that it is depriving the other children in the classroom the level of care and concern to which they are entitled. In such a situation, a two-week notice would be given before termination of services in order to give parents the necessary time to find alternative childcare.

• The tuition account becomes delinquent.

• Failure of parents/guardians to honor the obligations listed in the Handbook or any rules, regulations, or manuals provided by the Center.

• The child’s special needs are beyond the Center’s scope of care.

Parent Rights

Parents have the right to visit the Center at any time to observe all activities of our program any time they deem appropriate. We do ask that you be respectful of our designated nap time as to avoid disruption of any sleeping children.

The State Licensing Agency has the right to interview a child and the school staff, and to inspect and audit all records maintained by the school without securing prior consent of anyone.

Licensing also has the right to observe the physical condition of a child including conditions indicating abuse and neglect, and to have a licensed medical professional examine a child if deemed necessary.

Parent Concerns

We request you first direct any concern’s regarding your child’s care or our policies to your child’s Teacher. If there is no resolve, or if you feel that you need more information, you should then take your concerns to the Director of the Center. If the Director is unable to come to a satisfactory solution, the Director will take the matter to the Administrator. Please note: specific concerns about your child should not be addressed in the presence of your child.

Address and Telephone Number Changes

It is the parent’s responsibility to keep all information on the Childcare Contract and the

Emergency Card current. Address changes, telephone number and changes in persons authorized to pick-up your child should be reported to the Director immediately. Temporary or onetime only changes must be noted, in writing, and given to the Director.

Sign-In & Sign-Out

State regulations require that each child be officially signed in by the person dropping them off at the Center. Full signatures are required as well as noting the time of arrival. Each child must also be signed out, with departure time noted, by a person authorized to pick up the child. We require that children be signed in & out each day with a full signature, not initials. Parents must stop at drop off and pick up to sign their children in and out of our care. Parents who do not sign their child out at the end of the day will be charged for the full day.

Children must be brought into the classroom or to your child’s outdoor play area by an adult to ensure that the teacher is aware of your child’s arrival.

If you have arranged for someone else to pick up your child, you must have previously authorized that person by placing that person’s name on your child’s emergency form. We will not release your child into any other person’s custody without your written, preauthorized permission.

Arrival and Dismissal of Children

Only people identified on either the emergency card and/or information form will be allowed to pick up a child. If a parent is unable to pick up their child; and none of the persons designated on the emergency form is available, a written note permitting someone other than the parent to pick up the child must be given to the Director in the morning. We will not release your child into any other person’s custody without your written, preauthorized permission. Phone calls will not be accepted.

When picking up a child, a picture ID will be required of any person who is not recognizable by our staff. If a custodial parent does not want the non-custodial parent to have access to the child while at the preschool, a current copy of the Court Order stating who the custodial parent is, as well as a statement certifying that the non-custodial parent may not have access to the child while at the preschool, must be submitted to the Director upon enrollment.

Late Drop-offs

Our morning program begins at 9:15am. All children should be present no later than 9:45am, unless you have communicated with the staff ahead of time. Please be respectful when dropping off your child late as not to disrupt the class in progress. Please be aware of scheduled nap times when dropping your child off late as it interrupts the children who may be sleeping. If this does occur, please come and go as quietly and quickly as possible. Children who arrive during nap time will be expected to rest or play quietly until the nap period is over.

Late Pick-ups

All children should be picked up by 5pm. A late fee of $20 will be required upon pickup. Any pick-ups past 5:30pm will result in an additional $20.

Illness Policy

Your child should not be brought to the Center if, within the last 72 hours, the child has had fever, diarrhea, a yellow or green runny nose, or other illnesses that would be communicable to children and teachers. Therefore, it is important that you have some kind of alternate care for your child on such occasions.

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The Center should be notified immediately if your child has contracted one of the communicable childhood diseases such as measles, chicken pox, or mumps. We can inform other parents of the symptoms so they can watch for them in their children.

The Center encourages safeguarding the health of young children by requesting that parents follow these guidelines when deciding if a child is well enough to attend school:

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• FEVER

• RUNNY NOSE 

• EARACHE 

• RASH 

• SORE THROAT 

• COUGH

• UPSET STOMACH OR DIARRHEA 

• PINK EYE 

• HEAD LICE

• TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID 19  

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Parents are expected to call the Preschool to indicate the child will be absent and provide the cause of the absence.

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Illness or Injury While at the Center

If the child becomes ill while at the Center, parent(s) will be called and a parent or authorized person is expected to pick up the child within a reasonable time. One a teacher recognizes the child is ill and parents should be notified, the child will be separated from the other children to prevent spreading illness.

If an injury occurs while the child is at the Center, the parents will be notified immediately about the child’s condition and the child must be picked up from the preschool as soon as possible, preferably within an hour. If a parent is unavailable, the persons listed on the emergency card will be contacted in the order they are listed. In case of serious injury, 911 will also be called.

Children who are sent home from school because of illness must remain home for 72 HOURS before returning to school. 

Medication Policy

When it is necessary for your child to take medicine while at the Center, we ask that you follow these guidelines set out by the State of California. Bring the medicine in its original container, clearly marked with your child’s name. Fill out and sign an Administration of Medication Authorization Form and give the form and the medication to the Teacher or the Director/Assistant Director. Be sure to pick up the medication at the end of the day.

Remember these important policies concerning administration of medicines at school:

• Clear times and dosages must be stipulated on the Authorization Form.

• Medicine must be in the original container and clearly marked with the child’s name.

• If medicine is not a prescription, we will need a doctor’s statement (on his or her prescription pad) indicating the medication and the necessary times and dosages. In no case will the Center be able to administer over-the-counter medications in dosages that exceed the recommended dosages listed on the bottle for the child’s weight and age.

While we know that this may sometimes cause inconveniences for you, especially in the area of over-the-counter medications, we do have to comply with the State Law. In doing so, we also ensure consistency and therefore safety standards for all our children here at school.

Parent and Teacher Communication

Parent meetings are open to all parents. Parents are encouraged to help with our program according to interest and availability. While we are not a co-op preschool, parents can assist in many ways. Let us know if you would like to be involved.

The Center will update the website and post things daily on our Facebook page.

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Positive Discipline and Behavior Management

Self-discipline is a concept that many children learn in a school environment. Often, children make choices that are not in their best interest and the Teacher needs to intervene. All children at Little Angels Children’s Center will be treated with dignity and respect. We do not use any form of corporal punishment, Ever.

Behavior techniques that are used will be used in the following order:

• Setting limits & Redirecting with positive reinforcement of correct behavior

• Intervention with correction of inappropriate behavior

• Structured thinking time* (aka time-out)

• Letter in writing of inappropriate behavior (must be signed and returned)

• Phone call of inappropriate behavior and parent/guardian must come to center immediately

• Director, Teacher, Parent, Child Conference

• We ask that you willingly withdraw your child from the Center

• Termination of care

Little Angels Children’s Center reserves the right to terminate care immediately. Our staff will make every effort to work with parents on behavior problems. Although, we will not let other children suffer due to behavior problems from one child.

Lunch and Snacks

Two nutritious snacks are provided for every child attending our program and prepared by our staff. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. An afternoon snack will be offered to full day children after they wake up from nap.

All children (full day and half day) will eat lunch at our facility. Children should bring a lunch to school every day. Be certain that your child’s lunch box or sack is clearly marked with his/her name. Should you bring a lunch item that need refrigeration, please note that it takes up valuable space in our refrigerator. Please pack a frozen ice bag with the items that need to be cooled. Please limit sweets as we are trying to strengthen nutritional eating habits. Do not send your child to school with gum, candy, soda. Any special diet problems should be discussed with the staff. If your child has a food allergy, your doctor should supply the Center with an allergy statement. In the case of food allergies, parents should supply substitute food.

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Toys from Home

Children often want to bring toys from home, but we ask your help in keeping them at home. Classroom share times will be announced by the teacher. We may ask you to bring in items from time to time to share with the class around a certain theme, but please limit your items to only those that are requested by the teacher.

Clothing

School is a place for investigating and learning about many things. Some investigations become quite messy and/or wet. The staff and your child will be more relaxed if your child wears the same type of play clothing he/she wears at home. We also would appreciate clothing that is easily manipulated for toileting. Since this is a time that children are learning to do things for themselves, clothing should not be made in such a way that is impossible for children to manage for themselves.

Please send a spare set of clothing, including underwear and socks, to be left in your child’s cubby. Such clothing should be labeled with your child’s name. In the event of an accident we will change your child into his/her spare clothes. In the event that your child does not have spare clothing at school, we will place your child in alternate spare clothing. If your child uses clothing borrowed from the preschool, please launder and return them immediately. Please label your child’s clothing, jackets, sweatshirts, and sweaters.

Cubbies

Each child will have a designated cubby for all their belongings. Please help your child identify that cubby and encourage proper care and storage of their possessions.

Birthdays

If you would like to bring a treat to school for your child’s birthday, please notify the Teacher in advance so we can prepare for this special occasion.

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Non-Structured Learning/Play-Based Learning

There are times in the day where children will have the opportunity to engage in free-play, both inside and outside. We encourage fine and gross motor development through manipulative materials such as blocks, puzzles, learning games, toys and art activities (cutting, gluing, coloring, painting, printing, play dough, weaving, etc).

Outside Play

We encourage large/gross motor development through active participation in such activities as running, digging, climbing, balancing, riding a variety of bikes, using a variety of toys, bouncing, catching, and throwing playground balls.

Circle Time

During circle time each day, children are in their individual classrooms with their own Teacher. Activities include opening and closing routines, reading stories, singing songs, and various unit-related events. Children learn to develop their attention spans and to participate in a group setting. Each classroom has their own unique circle time and engage in a variety of activities based on the age of the children and the topics they are learning. For example, trying new activities like yoga or working on a letter of the week.

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Communication

When you pick up your child each day, check his/her cubby for special notes or information.

If you have questions or concerns at any time, please feel free to contact your child’s Teacher or the Director. We want and need to hear from you! We will regularly update our website with new information and share photos and information on our Facebook page daily.

Emergency Preparations

In the event of a disaster such as an earthquake or wildfire, children will be supervised at the onsite until a parent or emergency contact person picks up the child. Our staff will contact emergency contacts as quickly as possible to coordinate pick up.  We have an emergency plan in place and posted. If relocation from the school is absolutely necessary emergency contacts will be notified as well as appropriate agencies to help coordinate reunification. We will also post updates on our Website, Facebook and email (if able) to keep our families informed of school closures or any updates related to disasters.

Earthquake and fire drills are conducted throughout the year to familiarize the children with emergency procedures. First aid and emergency supplies are stored at Little Angels in case of a disaster. In addition, you must provide a change of clothes for your child. Place the clothing in a zip lock bag with his/her name clearly marked.

Our staff has been completely trained in First Aid and CPR, and each member has an assigned duty in the event of a disaster.

Rest Time

It is a policy of our program and a state requirement that all full day children lie down for a rest period each day. We will provide a cot and a cot sheet. Your child must have a thin lightweight blanket with his/her name on it. This blanket and cot sheet must be brought at the beginning of your child’s week and must be taken home at the end of each week to be washed.

Field Trips

We occasionally take field trips to enhance the children’s understanding of the world around them. Help from our preschool parents is essential. If you wish to be of assistance, sign-up sheets will be with your child’s teacher. Parents are required to fill out a “permission slip” in order for their child to attend. Children without a signed and dated permission slip will not be able to attend the field trip. For transportation to and from field trips we will walk or use parent provided transportation.

Note: Field Trips takes in cars are for the Pre-K class (4 years and up). All classes may go on walking field trips with helpers and permission slips.

Child Abuse

We are required by the State of California (California Penal Code 11166) under penalty and/or incarceration to report to the authorities any reasonable suspicion of child abuse including physical abuse as well as emotional deprivation, sexual abuse, exploitation, neglect, or endangerment of the child.

If a staff member suspects any of the above, it is thoroughly discussed with the Director before any reports are made. If it does become necessary to report, please be assured such action is taken only in the spirit of what is best for your children and your family. The goal is to obtain help and support where it is needed.