Daycare at former armory site opens
Samantha Revell, director of program compliance for Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, joins Karen Cox, director of Great Future Early Learning Center, in front of a play tunnel at the center in Clinton, a former armory. The daycare program is for children six weeks through 5. (photo:Ben Pounds )
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, in partnership with the city of Clinton, has launched a full-day childcare program for children of city of Clinton and Clinton City Schools employees called Great Futures Early Learning Center. Samantha Revell, director of program compliance for Boys and Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley, said the center has limited additional spots now open to the public, beyond those city employees. If local industries or parents are interested in information or enrollment, including fee levels they may email GFELC@bgctnv.org. Costs for employer partnered spots are between the employer and employee.
“We welcome parents to reach out to set up a tour of our center!” she said.
The center will operate from 6 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and serve children ages six weeks through five years old.
Revell said the center provides a variety of activities throughout the day. Different aged children will have different types of activities and areas, meant to help develop different skills through play.
For example, rooms for the youngest children under age one include cribs and ground level toys. Rooms add different types of toys, books and activities as the children get older.
A central gym has a play tunnel, low basketball hoops and other activities for children ages two through five. An outdoor space adjacent to that will have a paved surface for riding toys, chalk and bubbles for those children.
“It helps them learn when they’re around similar age children,” Revel said.
Karen Cox, the center’s director, said that books and music are good learning tools for skills like listening. Items like blocks that children can stack, and activities like writing and coloring she said, help with “fine motor skills” while the gym helps with “gross motor skills.”
“We are trying to cater to the whole child,” she said.
“Learning through play is a big one,” said Revell regarding early education methods. “That way they can just use their imagination.”
Specific milestones, Revell said, include learning to hold their heads up for younger children and holding pencils and scissors for older ones.
The daycare does not use screens or digital devices for the students but does use them as a way for staff to keep in touch with parents and send them pictures and updates about activities.
Revell said the center’s teaching staff are experienced child care educators that have a minimum of four years in the early education field, and the Department of Human Services licensed the center. These full-time experienced staff are different from the often part-time Boys and Girls Club After School staff.
Renovations to make the armory a daycare cost the city of Clinton $2.3 million total, city Manager Roger Houck said. Two grants helped with that cost: a Tennessee Department of Human Services grant of $953,000 and a $500,000 federal Community Development Block Grant.
