Kiddie Academy, a franchise childcare center that offers the nationally reputed Life Essentials curriculum, recently opened the doors of one of its newest locations in Fisher’s Landing in Vancouver.
Owners of the new childcare center, Vijay and Deepika Ilavarasan, said they discovered it had been more than 10 years since a new childcare center had opened in the Vancouver area. Vijay said they had looked at sites in Portland, but there wasn’t a clear direction for the viability of those sites. After checking out Vancouver, they saw that the area was booming with lots of new businesses and families.
An official ribbon cutting was held for Kiddie Academy on Jan. 5, followed by a carnival-style grand opening on Jan. 6 at their new state-of-the-art facility located at 1920 SE 167th Ave., in Vancouver, across from the Fisher’s Landing Fred Meyer and next to Big Al’s.
The official start date for the Academy was Nov. 14, 2017, and 20-25 families signed up. By the first week in December, another 20 families had also signed up with them. Now there are 75 active children. Kiddie Academy is licensed for 166 children.
The Kiddie Academy doesn’t have a franchise in Oregon, not even in Portland, and the closest one to Vancouver is in Lacey.
“Officials from the Kiddie Academy Franchise – it’s headquartered in Maryland – visited this area,” Deepika said. “They said there is great opportunity here, even to expand beyond this.”
A friend at Banfield Pet Hospital told them it was “well-planned over here” and, with all of the development, the need was higher here. And Vijay and Deepika said businesses in the area were excited about the Academy and very welcoming to them.
“The pre-application was very easy and detailed, with a clear timeline and guiding information about zoning and so on,” Vijay said.
The Kiddie Academy welcomes young children from 6 weeks old to 6 years old, and also offers a before- and after-school program for 6 to 12 year olds, plus a school-aged classroom for summer school. A few children attend two to three days a week, as their parents have the need. And the teachers have degrees in early childhood education.
The many Academy amenities include a security monitor at the front inner door and each family has their own security code; cameras at the entrance and throughout the building and in classrooms, with monitors at the front desk; nine classrooms and three play areas, with an Outdoor Learning Center; indoor gym with climbing wall; and large communication monitors outside each classroom, offering the daily schedule, menus and communications to parents.
All teachers use both iPads – to send a daily report to parents – and walkie-talkies – to communicate with the front desk for extra supplies or food. There are two tablets in each classroom for the children, and webcams are enabled for parents to view classrooms from their mobile. There’s laundry every day at on-site laundry facilities and cots for all children to nap, and a full kitchen managed by a full-time chef with a culinary degree.
The typical Academy classroom schedule includes fine motor time, table activities, puzzles, music and movement, literacy, writing, creative art time, sensory and small group time; story time, science exploration and gross motor skills outside. The Academy very focused on literacy and math. This month they’re focusing on learning the oceans and planets, and at the end of the month, there will be a science fair. Every month they do a food drive with a field trip to the distribution center.
The grand opening festivities on Jan. 6 included BJ the Clown, face painting, Bounce Houses, Mr. Fantastic Magic Show and refreshments. Vijay and Deepika were available to give tours and answer questions. Deepika has state certification in early childhood education from Clark College, and Vijay has a Master of Business Administration degree and helps with the business operations.
Kiddie Academy held their official ribbon cutting and grand opening event Jan. 5-6 at their location in Fisher’s Landing in Vancouver.
