Ever wondered about our before and after school childcare program and how we decide which schools to do pickup and drop-off to? Or if we plan on adding your child’s school to the ever growing list of schools we service? Well here is some info on our program, that will hopefully answer some of those questions.
How do we decide which schools to service?
This can be one of the trickiest elements of the whole program and while we would like to just take all children from any school, logistically it just doesn’t work. In order to put together our school list for the year, we need to consider the following criteria:
1. Start/End time of each school. It is important to us, and the parents, that we pickup the children within minutes of them being dismissed, and also drop them off within minutes of school start times. This ensures that they are not waiting around too long outside the school either before or after class, so we have a certain window in the mornings and afternoons that we need to fit everything in to. For example, if Sandy Hill Elementary gets out at 2:33pm, and Centennial Park Elementary gets out a 2:38pm, but the schools are 20 minutes apart, then the only way to service both schools is to have one bus attend one school while the second bus attends the other. Otherwise, we have children waiting outside the school, for extended periods of time, which just isn’t an option.
2. Pickup/Dropoff Route. This ties in to the pickup and drop off times but it can be equally challenging making sure that the route makes sense logistically, as well as being time sensitive. Let’s face it, driving through Abbotsford between 2:30-3:30pm during the week, isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Furthermore, not all schools in the district have easy pickup and drop off areas, which can make the process of getting in and out of their parking lot take up to 30 minutes in some cases. This is why very careful planning needs to go in to deciding the routes we take each day for school drop off and pickup, and when we are looking at adding a new school to our route, we need to make sure that our ultimate goal of getting the children to and from school each day, is done in a timely fashion.
3. The demand from each respective school. In some cases, we will reconfigure our route in order to accommodate growing demand from a certain school or area. This is something that should be of particular concern to families this upcoming school year, as the new cross boundary rules take effect, and a lot of children will be forced to attend new schools in the fall.
What can I do to ensure my children can attend XPA?
Register early for next year! The sooner you get your registration in, we can start building our school lists and organizing our routes. Keep checking back here for changes to the school list, or email info@xtremetalent.ca for any special requests.
Refer your friends and family! We can add new schools to our list much easier, if we have more than just one or two families from that area. Ask about our referral discount as well.
What schools do you currently service?
- ASIA North Poplar
- Alexander Elementary
- Sandy Hill Elementary
- Auguston Elementary
- Margaret Stenersen
- Mountain Elementary
youtube
facebook
instagram