Our Mission

We provide quality child care and early learning through forest education, embracing the whole child, nurturing a connection to nature and inspiring a love of lifelong learning.

About Emmanuel

Emmanuel employees, students and volunteers are committed to providing child care and early learning guided by these values:

FAMILY

Family is relationships based on love, support, and trust. By this definition, we at Emmanuel are a family and treat each other as such. We prioritize and respect Emmanuel families according to their values. We care for children the way their families want us to.

BELONGING

We are responsive to the essential need to feel accepted and loved for who we are and to feel included and part of the Emmanuel family. We celebrate the whole child and the whole person, including all interests and dimensions of diversity, not only to ensure equity and a safe space for all but to learn from each other and grow in our knowledge as a community.

COMMUNITY

Our approach to learning embeds the child within the broader community, Emmanuel and beyond. We enhance leadership skills illustrating that everyone has a role in contributing to community wellbeing and instilling social responsibility. We engage the children, employees, families, volunteers, neighbours, partners, the city, the region, and other key stakeholders for learning, development, planning, and giving back to the community.

NATURE EXPLORATION

With the view of each child as being capable and competent, we provide opportunities to explore, make discoveries and support risky play in the natural world. We foster a child's natural sense of curiosity and inspire a life-long love of learning through emergent forest and nature pedagogy, as well as land-based Indigenous teachings; enhancing connection to self, others, and the world around them.

NURTURING CARE

Through authentic interactions that are emotionally supportive and responsive to the needs of each child in our care, we promote physical, emotional, social and cognitive development to enable individuals to reach their potential.