Children learn best in a child-centered environment supported by caring adults. We jump in as their co-learners, co-researchers, and co-imaginers of possibilities. We co-construct knowledge with them, their families, and our colleagues in an ongoing effort to fulfill everyone’s curiosity about the world and our relationships to the people and places in it.
Every situation is an opportunity to learn, so we offer a range of skills, resources, and leadership roles to foster each child’s development. We extend this thinking to our staff members, who actively seek out opportunities to learn and grow as educators.
We are not just people who work together, we are a crew! We share this commercial as a fun way to language the spirit of the crew at Wild Heart.
Our crew is diverse, with each member cherished and celebrated for who they are. They are our greatest asset. We believe strongly that if educators are loved, cared for and nurtured, they will generate loving, caring and nurturing environments for children.
We know there is a direct correlation between crew certification and the ability to create nurturing, reflective and responsive environments. As such, all educators in a Primary Caregiver role are level 3 certified. Educators in support roles are either level 2 or 3 certified.
Wild Heart places a high value on increasing educator knowledge and developing each person's unique skills and abilities. Over the years, we have implemented a strong leadership and mentorship model, with high accountability to professional learning.
Educators are supported by touchstones (peers who can reliably articulate the philosophy and practices of Wild Heart), Program Supervisors, a Program Director and an Executive Director. Touchstone roles are an opportunity for educators to their own leadership. All educators are given dedicated time to work in their Professional Learning Portfolios (PLP’s); PLP’s are the structure we use for ongoing goal setting, action planning, and reflection.
Shea graduated from the Early Childhood Development program at Grant MacEwan in 1999. She loves working with children and their families, and has done so in a variety of roles, including being a good mother to two beautiful children. Her professional experience includes providing respite care for families in crisis, creating and implementing developmental and behaviour management programs for children with disability, and managing children’s recreation programs for Disney Cruise Line.
Chanelle joined the WHCC crew in 2012, first as a PreK educator, then Program Supervisor, and now as the Program Director.; She is honoured to partner with families, children and educators every day. Chanelle and her husband enjoy going to the River Valley with their young son. She loves to read , do yoga, play board games, go for off-leash walks with Weasley or curling up on the couch to watch Netflix.
Rebecca has worked at WHCC since 2014, after graduating from the Early Learning and Child Care program at MacEwan University. Rebecca has a military family consisting of her husband, 2 children, and 2 cats! In her free time, Rebecca can be found in the kitchen, drinking coffee, listening to music, and baking (even though she’s not very good at it…yet!). She also loves playing video games like Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda or Pokemon.
In 2018, Navjot (lovingly nicknamed Nachos) graduated from MacEwan University’s Early Learning and Childcare Program and became a part of the WHCC crew. Navjot strongly advocates for play because play helps us to understand how children learn, explore their world, and how they make meaning. Through play, children become resilient, flexible, rich, strong, capable, and competent.
