Please reach us at michelle@littlefernspreschool.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
We are open Monday through Friday from 6:30am to 5:30pm.
Because we are a California licensed child care center, we are required to follow California’s immunization requirements for children enrolled in licensed child care.
California does not allow personal or religious belief exemptions from the required childhood vaccinations for child care enrollment. Children must either have the required immunizations for their age, be eligible for conditional admission while completing the required vaccine schedule, or have a valid medical exemption issued in accordance with California requirements.
Unfortunately, this isn't a policy that Little Ferns is able to waive, as we are required to maintain and verify immunization records for all enrolled children as part of our licensing requirements.
If your child is currently behind but you are working with their doctor to get them caught up, please let me know and we can review their immunization record to determine whether they meet the requirements for conditional admission. We do NOT require the Covid Vaccine.
Little Ferns Child Development Center – Illness Policy
At Little Ferns, the health and safety of our children, families, and staff is a top priority. To help prevent the spread of illness and ensure proper care for all children, families must follow the illness guidelines below.
When a Child Becomes Ill at School
If a child develops any of the following symptoms while at daycare, management/admin will contact the parent/guardian for immediate pickup:
For consistency and professionalism, all illness-related communication will come directly from Little Ferns management/admin, not classroom teachers.
Returning to Daycare
Children may return to Little Ferns only when they have been:
✅ Symptom-free for a full 24 hours
✅ Without the use of fever-reducing or symptom-masking medication
This ensures your child is truly well and helps protect the health of others.
Sibling Illness Policy
To minimize the spread of illness within our center:
👉If one child in a household is ill, all siblings must remain home until the sick child meets the return-to-care requirements.
Medication & Policy Compliance
Families may not send a child to daycare after administering medication to reduce fever, control vomiting, diarrhea, or otherwise mask symptoms of illness.
🚫If a child is brought to Little Ferns after being given medication to conceal illness symptoms, this is considered a serious violation of our sick policy.
Little Ferns reserves the right to disenroll families who knowingly violate this policy, as it puts other children, families, and staff at risk.
Why These Policies Are Important
These guidelines help:
• Protect children and teachers
• Prevent classroom outbreaks
• Maintain a safe learning environment
• Allow staff to provide quality care to all children
We appreciate your cooperation and partnership in keeping Little Ferns a healthy and safe community. For any illness-related questions or concerns, please contact administration directly.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Yes! All of our teachers are fully background checked and meet California licensing requirements for child care educators. Every staff member is fingerprinted and cleared through California’s Guardian background check system before working with children.
Our teachers are also required to have:
We take the safety of our children seriously and make sure every member of our teaching team is properly cleared, qualified, and prepared to provide a safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate learning environment. 🤍
Yes and no! We offer flexibility for our families, but we also believe that a consistent routine is best for both our children and our classrooms.
Our drop-off cutoff is 9:00 AM. You are welcome to drop off anytime before 9:00 AM and may pick up your child at any time during our operating hours.
We do ask that families communicate their typical schedule with us and try to maintain a semi-consistent drop-off and pick-up time. This helps us know when to expect your child, plan our daily activities, and staff our classrooms appropriately.
We also encourage families, when possible, to avoid having children in care for the full 11-hour day. Daycare is a busy, stimulating environment, and very long days can leave young children tired and overstimulated. A consistent schedule with plenty of time at home to rest and reconnect helps create a healthy balance. 🤍
No! We make mealtimes easy for our families. Little Ferns has an on-site chef who prepares lunch and two snacks each day, so there is no need to pack food for your child.
For the safety of all of our children, outside food is not permitted in the classrooms. This helps us manage food allergies and ensures our teachers always know exactly what foods are being served.
If your child requires food from home due to an approved dietary, allergy, or religious accommodation, it must be brought directly to our kitchen. Our kitchen staff will then send it to the classroom on the meal cart at the appropriate mealtime.
Keeping all food coordinated through our kitchen gives us an extra layer of safety and helps us protect children with food allergies while keeping mealtimes organized. 🤍
No! Little Ferns is a year-round, full-time child care center, not just a traditional preschool. We offer care throughout the entire year and enroll new children year-round as space is available—there’s no need to wait for the beginning of a school year!
We offer programs for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children, providing families with consistent, reliable care as their children grow. 🤍
Yes! We offer flexible enrollment options to fit your family’s schedule. Families can choose 2, 3, or 5 days per week, with either full-day or half-day options available.
Our half-day program runs from 8:00 AM–12:00 PM and is available for children enrolled in our Toddler and Preschool programs.
We love being able to offer families flexibility while still giving children the consistency and routine that helps them thrive in a classroom environment! 🤍
Reggio Emilia is a child-centered, hands-on approach to early learning that encourages children to explore, create, ask questions, problem-solve, and learn through their environment. Instead of relying only on worksheets or teacher-led instruction, children are given meaningful opportunities to learn through play, art, nature, sensory experiences, open-ended materials, and projects based on their interests.
At Little Ferns, we use a hybrid approach that combines Reggio Emilia-inspired learning with a traditional preschool curriculum. We believe children benefit from the creativity and independence of Reggio while also developing the academic and classroom skills they will need for kindergarten.
Our program incorporates early literacy, numbers and math concepts, shapes, colors, writing and fine-motor development, science, social-emotional learning, and following classroom routines alongside hands-on, child-led exploration.
Our goal is for children to leave Little Ferns socially, emotionally, and academically prepared for kindergarten while still allowing their preschool years to be filled with play, curiosity, creativity, and fun. 🌿🤍
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