Twenty-five children, one house, and a very big playground.
Sunset is a non-profit, co-operative daycare in South Vancouver. Families don’t just enrol here. They help run the place. That’s what keeps our fees low and our doors open, forty-nine years on.
Apply for a space
What to know before you apply
Sunset belongs to the families in it. We run the place together and share the jobs that keep it going, so joining here means joining in. Here is what that looks like.
Siblings of children who are here now, or who were here before, are offered a space first. That is the entire waiting list, and right now nobody is on it.
Five days a week. We do not offer part-time or half-day spaces. Children join us at 3, with one exception: at any time we can have two children who are between 2½ and 3.
Every family gives two hours: board positions, groceries, recycling, gardening, repairs. Most people end up doing something they are already good at.
Predictable enough to feel safe. Loose enough to play.
Coats in cubbies, hands washed, a science or art table already set up.
Two small circles, one of them for the children heading to Kindergarten.
Bike lane, climber, sandbox, dirt pit, gardens. Over an hour, every day.
A vegetarian lunch cooked in our own kitchen, plus two snacks. Included.
Quiet time on mats, then free play until pick-up at 5:30.
Your child will be known here.
Seven adults who know all twenty-five children, and who stay. Louise has taught here since 1992, Tanis since 1994, Jasraj since 2006. People don’t stay twenty years somewhere they don’t want to be, and children can feel the difference.
This is your daycare as much as your child’s.
A volunteer board of parents runs the society. Little Mountain Neighbourhood House has handled our finances and administration since 1998, which means the board can stay focused on the centre itself. Doing the work ourselves is what keeps our teachers teaching instead of fundraising.
Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, or member at large.
For the hot lunch programme and the daily snacks.
Keeping the playground and beds usable through a Vancouver winter.
Recycling returns, repairs, bookkeeping, a trailer and a free Saturday.
In the beginning he would cry and would not want to play with anyone. But now, we have to almost force him to leave.
Harleen Dosanjh
I grew teary when I witnessed the calm and caring response by one of the staff toward a little boy who was upset, and knew in that moment I would feel comfortable leaving my child in their hands.
Natasha
Every family is welcome here.
All families and children are welcome in our program regardless of race, language, religion, ethnicity, socio-economic status, ability, gender or sexual orientation. Children have diverse abilities and strengths, and they are entitled to environments that foster individuality and positive development.
We are an inclusive setting. Through the Supported Child Development Program we receive additional staffing funding so that children who need extra adult support can take part fully. There is a separate waitlist for those spaces. Contact the SCD Program directly to join it.
Come and see the place.
We have spaces open now. Send us your details and we will call you back. Or ring 604 325 3817 and ask for the Supervisor. It is a house with a playground, and it is much easier to picture once you have stood in it.
Vancouver, BC V5X 3S1
Off S.E. Marine Drive, between Main and Fraser
Monday to Friday
sunsetdaycarebc@gmail.com
We acknowledge we are on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, and thank them for sharing and caring for the land we learn and play on.