Expressive Beginnings Child Care- Webster, NY

The compassionate care that Heritage Christian Services has been known for is extended through the agency’s Expressive Beginnings Child Care, with three locations in Greece, Henrietta and Webster. While the child care centers are not specifically designed for children with disabilities, it accommodates as many special needs families as possible and is backed by HCS' longstanding expertise in that area. Expressive Beginnings offers a unique family environment and a highly regarded learning curriculum. All three locations serve children through age 12. We offer infant and toddler care, preschool, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, school age wrap around care and summer camps. At Expressive Beginnings, we believe that social and emotional development are the foundation for success, and that relationships matter. That’s why we offer both primary care and continuity of care for our infant and toddler classes, the age groups where forming secure attachments is key. Primary care is when one teacher is assigned to be the primary caregiver for a group of children. For example, in a classroom of eight children, four will be in one teacher’s primary care group. This helps children develop secure relationships with caregivers. It also helps teachers to really get to know each child and his or her parents. Continuity of care means children have the same caregiver from infancy through age 3, which helps children develop secure attachments. Our goal is to provide the same caregiver to all siblings from the same family whenever possible. We also hold play-based learning at the heart of our daily rhythms. We respect and acknowledge that when children are playing, they are learning. We know that children express themselves and their intelligence in many different “languages”; music, movement, writing, art, and sports to name a few, so we provide ample opportunity for them to experience, and express, them all. EBCC is proud to follow an emergent curriculum, which includes major facets of Reggio Emilia, an emergent learning style of international acclaim. In other words, learning topics are child directed and require teachers to exercise flexibility and creativity to follow the interests of their students rather than rigid lesson plans. We find that when children are exploring a topic that they are interested in, their engagement and learning increases dramatically. And no matter the topic or activity, the teachers still accomplish age-appropriate objectives in language, literacy, mathematics, science and social studies. The health and well-being of the children entrusted to our care is of paramount importance to us, which is why Expressive Beginnings staff members are taught by a registered nurse and certified through Medication Administration Training to give medication. They may also give emergency inhalers for asthma and epinephrine pens for severe allergies.