About us

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LOCALLY OWNED & DIRECTED

Tot Spot Academy is locally owned and directed. We are not a franchise or chain, so all of our focus and energy is spent in one location, providing the highest quality of care.

HEALTHY & NUTRITIOUS FOOD

Children are provided healthy, whole foods of a variety of colors. We aim to eat healthy while still celebrating each child’s birthday with a birthday treat!

INQUISITIVE, LIFE-LONG LEARNERS

Our program planning is done on site by our qualified teachers. The program planning is adaptive and designed to meet your child’s individual needs.

COMMUNITY OF FAMILIES

We emphasize social-emotional development, welcome families of varying beliefs and ideologies, and include children of all ability levels.

History of
Tot Spot Academy

While pregnant with their first child, Alicia and Randall started discussing their plan for childcare and made a list of all the things that they wanted:

Caregivers that they could trust to give the same love and attention that they would give their own child
A place that offers developmental and educational programming, but also realized the importance of play, stimulating children’s curiosity, and fun
A clean and bright facility that promoted fitness, nutrition, and environmental awareness

After an extensive search, they found a shortfall in exceptional quality childcare which met this criteria; this gave birth to the idea of simply doing themselves. So Alicia and Randall decided to marry their two areas of expertise (teaching and business respectively) to create Tot Spot Academy.

Tot Spot Academy started out of Randall and Alicia’s home in January 2013 as a dayhome with only one client. Within a year, it had quickly grown into a thriving business serving multiple families, hired 1 full time employee, and had a 2.5 year waiting list.

Even though Tot Spot would be considered a smashing success as a day home, it has one major problem: capacity. Due to extensive demand, Tot Spot Academy had reached a stage where growth was necessary. The next step was to transform the day home into a daycare capable of serving far more families.

After a lengthy search, the perfect location for Tot Spot Academy was found within St. Albert. Alicia and Randall took possession of a commercial space (9420 McKenney Ave) in June of 2016 and renovations took place over the summer transforming a former scrapbooking store into the daycare it is today. Construction and licensing were completed as the end of summer neared and Tot Spot Academy the daycare officially opened its doors September 12th, 2016.

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Within months, the Tot Spot Academy again faced the same capacity problems as the dayhome. Word travelled fast about the quality of care, the new spots quickly filled up, and once again Randall and Alicia had to search for a new space. A gym in the same strip mall had just closed its doors and offered the perfect place for expansion. The decision was made to move the preschool and out of school care kids into that space and we called it Tot Spot 2. Randall and Alicia learned a lot of lessons throughout building the first center (Tot Spot 1) and applied those learnings to the design of the new space. The doors finally opened to Tot Spot 2 on November 10th, 2017.

After adjusting to operating in the two spaces for a year, it became apparent that a second (and hopefully final!) expansion was required. The daycare was full, parents were happy, and applications kept pouring in. With the goal of expanding Tot Spot 2 to serve all the daycare needs and using the original space for out-of-school care, Randall and Alicia patiently waited until the space beside Tot Spot 2 opened up. In 2020, the opportunity finally arrived! A financial organization and clothing store moved out and a large adjacent area became available. Construction began in September 2020 to expand Tot Spot 2 into this space so all the children, from babies to preschool, could all be in the same center and benefit from the design improvements such as windows for each classroom.

Construction was finally completed December 2020 and the doors to the new space opened in January 2021. Our out of school care program was then be moved into the original space which also went under renovation to be best suited for our older kids.

Childcare wishlist

Caregivers that they could trust to give the same love and attention that they would give their own child

A place that offers developmental and educational programming, but also realized the importance of play, stimulating children’s curiosity, and fun

A clean and bright facility that promoted fitness, nutrition, and environmental awareness

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We're opening a new location

Wait there’s more!

Since October 2023, Randall has been working closely with the Government of Alberta to receive a grant from their Childcare Space Creation Program. This program provides funding to well run organizations such as ours to create new childcare spaces. After a long process, we were finally awarded the grant, providing us the funding to open up a new location. Last week, after a year of negotiations and planning, we finalized a lease with the landlord for the new space. Details on the new location are below:

– The new location will be on the ground floor in Bellevue Villagejust south of the – Enjoy Center on Ray Gibbons. It is a 7 minute drive from our current location
– We will initially be applying to be licensed for 120 children
– We are aiming for a fall 2025 grand opening
– The outdoor play area will be HUGE! It will be over 8,000 square feet
– There will NOT be any OSC offered at the Bellevue location
– Our current location will be called Tot Spot Academy – McKenney and the new location will be referred to as Tot Spot Academy – Bellevue.

With new kids, families, staff, and processes needed to run two locations, there will surely be some growing pains as we figure things out. However, this is a very exciting time for Tot Spot and we are extremely excited!

Pricing will be the same as our current McKenney location and align with the new Affordability Grant funding. Information regarding upcoming fee changes will be released as the government provides us with more information.

We will be providing more information on Bellevue’s opening date, staffing, and any other details as they come.

Programming and curriculum

At Tot Spot Academy, we believe that all children are capable learners when given the opportunity to practice and explore in an enriched environment with loving and supportive teachers.

Our programming is done on site, by our certified and highly trained teachers. Programming looks different from year to year as staff develop lessons and activities based on the abilities, prior knowledge, and interests of the children within their class. As children begin care or move from class to class, parents are asked to complete ASQ (ages and stages questionnaires). These forms help support our teachers in ensuring that the skills the child has at daycare are the same as those parents see at home.

In all of our classrooms, children engage in familiar routines allowing for periods of structured and unstructured learning throughout each day.

Each classroom has a set of predetermined skills and concepts that teachers incorporate into their daily planning. These skills are divided into categories:

Motor skills centered around balance, coordination and agility
Academic skills such as numeracy and literacy skills
Critical thinking skills such as problem solving, decision making and analyzing
Social emotional skills such as responsible decision making and self awareness.
Teachers plan lessons, activities, provocations, and dramatic play stations with their classrooms curricular guidelines in mind. These curricular guidelines help to ensure progress is made from class to class and that children obtain the skills that they need to be successful in the next classroom.

We regularly update formal, individual assessments to ensure that your child is right on track and we are doing everything we can to support their development!

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Nutrition

Tot Spot Academy is solely focused on core competency of providing the absolute best childcare and therefore have chosen to outsources our food service to a local St. Albert company called ‘The Lunch Lady’. They provide the absolute highest quality of fresh, tasty, healthy and nutritious food. They create inclusive menus which accommodate for a wide range of food allergies, cultural food requirements and food intolerances. Since they are a commercial kitchen, they must follow the strictest safety protocols and are inspected regularly by AHS as well as their own operations team to ensure safe food practices.

The Lunch Lady supplies us with morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack and we serve it with your choice of cow’s milk, almond milk or lactose free milk.

Sample menu

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Outdoor play

Teachers at Tot Spot Academy believe that many skills can only be taught in the great outdoors. We have three approved outdoor playspaces and a large field that we enjoy spending time in. Not far away are tree lined walking trails, a pond, and natural open spaces to explore.

Gain knowledge and appreciation for the natural world

Build resiliency

Create healthier, more active children

Strengthen your immune system

Encourage creativity and imagination

Decrease stress levels

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Parent communication

MONTHLY MESSAGES

Parents recieve monthly messages on Brightwheel that include newsletters, program planning for every class, menu and reminders of important events and activities.

FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION

Nothing replaces face to face communication between teachers and families! We love to chat with you and fill you in on your child’s day. Questions? Ask away.

BRIGHTWHEEL

We have a parent communication system called Brightwheel. Throughout the day, teachers upload information such as how your child ate, when they arrived and departed from care and how they napped.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Our Facebook and Instagram provide parents with additional insight into our program and activities.

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Licensing

In Alberta, all daycares are required by the government to be licensed. Licensing officers regularly arrive unannounced to child care facilities to conduct inspections and ensure standards are being followed. These inspections include the evaluation of in class programming, the learning environment, and staff-student interactions.

Until April 2020 (when the program ended), elite daycares also had the option to be held to a higher standard and become accredited. Tot Spot Academy met or exceeded the standards and was an accredited daycare. Tot Spot Academy still strives to exceed the accreditation standards in our daily program planning, environments and interactions to ensure the highest quality of care for our children.

Accredited programs were required to set, achieve and prove how goals are met across four main standards:

We become a community of learners

Program incorporates local community organizations, all staff members and families in the childcare process.

All of our staff members regularly participate in Professional Development to ensure that we are advancing our programming, practices and knowledge.

Focus on Continual Improvement

Each year, Tot Spot Academy sets and achieves six goals across six different standards. Setting goals holds us accountable to improving, reviewing our practices and being the best we can.

Committed to a high level of programming

Tot Spot Academy regularly updates student assessments to ensure that we are scaffolding to meet the needs of the children within our program. Purposeful programming is emailed out to families at the beginning of each month.

Accountability and Consistency

The Tot Spot team undergoes annual reviews and unannounced verification visits which ensure that we are accountable and consistent.