This email has been sent to all RisingOaks Early Learning families to share the good news that our application to join the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program has been approved!

Our initial application was submitted on August 17 ahead of the initial deadline of September 1. However, the provincial government issued revised guidelines with a new timeline in late August. As a result, we submitted a revised application and are proud to confirm that it has been approved.

If you are new to RisingOaks Early Learning and are just learning about CWELCC, the program aims to:

More details can be found here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/canada-ontario-early-years-and-child-care-agreement

As of November 1, RisingOaks will issue a revised fee schedule showing the first 25% fee reduction for the following eligible programs:

* Note that children in JKK before and after school only qualify up to age 6. For those in before and after school who turn 6 prior to June 30, they will qualify for the remainder of the school year. If a child turns six on or after July 1, they will only qualify for reduced fees until the end of their birthday month.

Under the guidelines, with reduced fees, no program will be less than $12 a day. This is important to note for those who are only registered in JKK before school (and not after school) as many of those programs are already less than $12 a day and will not be reduced.

On November 1, you can find the new reduced rates on our website fee pages available at: https://risingoaks.ca/child-care-fees

While the fee reductions are being implemented on November 1, fee rebates are retroactive to April 1.

At RisingOaks Early Learning, those fee rebates (April 1 to Oct 31) are currently being calculated and will be applied to your account as a credit on November 1, 2022.

This credit will be applied to your reduced fees for November and December - lowering or eliminating a payment to RisingOaks for those months.

On December 15, 2022, any remaining credit due to CWELCC fee rebates will be refunded to your bank account.

Families who are eligible for a fee rebate but have withdrawn from RisingOaks' programs will still receive a fee refund either by direct deposit to their bank or by e-transfer, depending on the circumstances.

Here is a brief example for a family with one child enrolled in the preschool program:

If you have concerns regarding this approach, please reach out to your centre supervisor or reply to this email.

On January 1, 2023, child care fees will be reduced by an additional 25% on a go forward basis. The 2023 fee schedule will be shared with parents in mid-November so that you can plan your household budgets based on this new information.

Under the CWELCC program, fees will continue to be reduced to an average of $10 a day by Sept 2025, though no future deadlines, beyond January 1, 2023, have been set at this time.

It is important to note that it is an average of $10 a day. The average calculation includes those on fee subsidy and those who pay child care fees directly, so some may pay higher than $10, but still much reduced from today's fees.

We are in the process of creating a new CWELCC page on our website that will provide links to provincial guidelines, FAQs, program updates for RisingOaks and links to new fee schedules. This page will also include more examples to show how fee reductions will be applied in various circumstances. We'll share the link in our next e-news, so be sure to check your inbox on Sept 30 or Oct 1.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!