About Us
Learning through play
Bells Corners Co-operative Nursery School provides a caring and nurturing environment for hands-on learning through play experiences.
About BCCNS
Bells Corners Cooperative Nursery School (BCCNS) believes that every child has a right to a quality early years education.
Our programs include professional programming as well as supervised play. Our Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers achieve learning objectives through concrete activities that enable the children to learn through their play.
Our main goals are to build children’s self esteem, give children control over their learning, foster a love of learning, enable children to construct knowledge by interacting with their environment, and offer children materials to explore what they know, wonder about, feel and imagine.
What is a co-operative preschool?
A co-operative school is a non-profit organization in which parents and teachers work together to provide the highest quality early childhood education. Parent and caregiver participation allows for more affordable tuition, and therefore more children are able to access a quality preschool or kindergarten experience.
You are encouraged to become actively involved in your child’s education. By helping out in the classroom or on field trips, or by participating on committees or the School Council, you will be showing your child that you are interested in their education.
Our welcoming preschool and kindergarten classrooms encourage inclusion and a sense of belonging. Each child’s well-being is important.
Mission
The Bells Corners Cooperative Nursery School will provide an environment in which parents and teachers work together to provide quality care and early childhood education. The needs, rights and concerns of the children, parents and teachers will be given equal emphasis to create an atmosphere conducive to learning. BCCNS is an inclusive school, where all children belong. We celebrate every child’s uniqueness and similarities.
BCCNS’ full ByLaws can be read here.
History
Bells Corners Co-operative Nursery School was established in February 1968. A community of mothers wanted to provide their children with the best possible preschool experience and develop a preschool resource for the community. Through a partnership with one staff member and one director they created an early learning environment that was optimal for their children, and allowed the parents to actively participate in the experience.
Bells Corners Co-operative remains one of the oldest and largest preschools in the Ottawa area due to the vision and commitment of its membership. In fact, children who once attended BCCNS now bring their own children here for their preschool experience. BCCNS continues the tradition of providing a stimulating and nurturing environment where children learn through play.
Funding
BCCNS is a proud participant in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) System. This federal initiative supports quality, accessibility, affordability and inclusivity in early learning licensed childcare in our community, and we thank our partners the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Ministry of Education in helping BCCNS to reduce our base tuition fees.
