1Neighbourhood of Learning Proposal

January, 2009

SANE’s proposal is to work with the North Vancouver School Board and the City/District of North
Vancouver to initiate a Neighbourhoods of Learning Project for the 2009/2010 school year.

SANE is proposing creation of a Before and After School Daycare in September 2009 that is in
philosophic harmony with Windsor House, and is located in the same building as the school. As
space comes available, we would add full-day Daycare, a Parent Participation Preschool, a
Seniors’ Drop-in Center and a Community Meeting space.

• Description of Need
There is considerable demand for daycare for Windsor House students, as many of them come
from East Vancouver, and their parents cannot find a way to get them from school to a daycare
at 3:00 pm.

It is important to retain students from within the district and attract students from a wider
catchment area. In order to make it possible for some families to attend, there must be before
and after school care, so that parents will not be required to ferry their children from school to
day care in the middle of a work-day.

• Educational Rationale
The educational rationale for this program is that families joining Windsor House do so for
philosophical reasons. In order to attend a school of their choice, they must extend themselves
far beyond the parent participation requirements in a traditional school. They must fulfill an
extensive conference protocol to ensure suitability, attend many meetings and conferences
during the year, devote an average of half a day a week to the school, drive or bus their young
people to school (up to an hour each way), and attend evening philosophy discussions of their
choice.

They also attend the usual work-parties, fund-raisers (which require considerable effort because
there is a policy of including every child who wishes to attend any event) and PAC meetings.

There are some families who are willing to extend this effort, but are still unable to attend
Windsor House because of the insurmountable problem of day-care.

• Educational Goals
This service would be supporting the educational goals of Windsor House, and would be staffed
by people who support the philosophy. The children attending would initially be limited to
students of Windsor House.

• Unique Nature and Value to School District

The value to the School District would be that many more students would be able to attend,
especially young people from East Vancouver where there is considerable philosophical
alignment. Every time that SANE has sponsored a daycare at Windsor House, the enrollment
has risen dramatically.
• Implications of Proposed Program
A SANE day care program would completely support the Windsor House philosophy and
enhance the experiential aspect of the school curriculum. Windsor House has a flexible
program and innovative clientele so with little change could initiate a Neighbourhoods of
Learning Project as envisioned by the Ministry of Education at no additional cost to the District.

• Delivery Model
SANE would like to rent space the same building as the school is housed, but would be open to
any option including shared use of the school as has been done several times in the past. We
would hire one Early Childhood Education trained teacher and one assistant, and provide a rich
program of indoor and outdoor activities.

• Potential Partners
SANE’s vision is that when Windsor House moves to a larger, permanent home, SANE would
partner with the District/City of North Vancouver to provide a Community component that would
include all ages from babies to seniors.

The vision includes the timely addition of a Parent Participation Preschool, a full-day Daycare, a
Seniors’ Drop-in Center, and a Community Meeting space.

The guiding principle would be community collaboration in all aspects of the private segment.
SANE has successfully run each of the elements of this plan, and this summer has organized
an eight day international conference (International Democratic Education Conference) at UBC
that encompassed all of these ideals.

• How the Program Would Be Sustained

SANE (incorporated in 1992) would be responsible for all aspects of the private program. Our
Board has prepared a full report concerning the licensing, personnel, service delivery, days and
hours of service, hours of operation, ages and numbers of students, code of conduct, operating
expenses and rates.

A component of sustaining the program would be relocating Windsor House to a larger, more
permanent home. Maplewood School would be an excellent location, as it is central for North
Vancouver students ,as well accessible for young people taking the bus from East Vancouver. It
is close to the Ironworkers’ Memorial Bridge and there are two bus stops, one coming and one
going, that are close to the school and do not require children to cross a road.

The amount of space at Maplewood is ideal for our purpose, as Windsor House, at 250
students, would fill the ‘old school’ section, and the SANE daycare, pre-school, seniors drop-in
and community meeting space would fill the ‘new wing’.

This proposal is endorsed by the Windsor House Vision and Facilities Committee and the
Parent Advisory Committee.

Sincerely,
Helen Hughes