Penticton daycare centre closes to make room for larger child-care facility

An early learning education program in Penticton has officially closed down in order to make room for a larger child-care facility.

An early learning education program in Penticton, B.C., has officially closed down to make room for a larger child-care facility.

Bugaboo University has been offering daycare at the Penticton Community Centre for nearly 10 years, and the last day of Bugaboo was on Friday, Dec. 15.

“Bugaboo University has been an early learning education program for toddlers in the community. So, it’s not actually a preschool nor is it a licensed child-care centre,” said City of Penticton Social Development Specialist Jamie Lloyd-Smith.

“We know that child care is a crisis not just in Penticton but in B.C., so we were finding opportunities to expand our child-care spaces. And we wanted to look at the city-owned assets and facilities that we had, and Bugaboo University was a perfect opportunity to take what we are already doing and expand into formal child-care spaces.”

The city has partnered with the YMCA of the Southern Interior for an expansion of space at the Community Centre.

The new child-care facility will add 80 net new child-care spaces in Penticton including 12 spaces for children under three-years-old, 44 spaces for children three-years-old to kindergarten age, and 24 spaces for school-aged children.

“At this point none of the spots are currently spoken for in any way, lots of that will be left to the YMCA. We certainly do expect a high demand we know that there’s a need for child care in the community,” said Lloyd-Smith.

“This is a big step for us in the partnership here and making this happen is what’s been really successful. We certainly know in speaking with families and speaking with the community, there’s a need and this is a good first step for us to work with the YMCA and certainly looking for other future opportunities as well.”