We strongly recommend registering on the waitlist as early as possible. Your registration date is a significant factor when evaluating your enrollment precedence. Many applicants choose to register once they have a due date. Critical information about the child can be updated on your registration after the baby arrives. Registrations prior to conception (9 months) will not be accepted.
Being on a Childcare Provider’s waitlist DOES NOT guarantee enrollment but will guarantee that your child will be evaluated consistently and fairly for every opening that does come up.
We are aware of the difficulty in securing early learning and care spaces in the community, and of the long waits to secure a spot. We strongly advise you to plan for multiple options.
Waitlists are dynamic and many factors impact how the waitlist will progress over time. Therefore, your position on the waitlist is also dynamic and will fluctuate depending on the characteristics of a future opening. Some of these characteristics include:
Please access your account to use the resources provided under “Waitlist Standing” to better understand your likelihood of getting an offer at a particular time. The Waitlist Standing Simulator will generate your estimated standing for a future date of your choosing...if a vacancy was available at that time. This standing needs to be evaluated in light of when vacancies are likely to come up. The Vacancy Statistics menu item will tell you about past openings and when they come up.
Care is provided year-round so new enrollments can occur at any time during the year. When openings occur and in which age group is difficult to predict.
Typically, children who are offered a spot stay enrolled until they start preschool or kindergarten in early fall. Therefore, the majority of spaces generally come up when children "age out" of care. The vacancy postings will come up in the May and June timeframe to accommodate this migration. The remaining vacancies will occur when children leave the centre for other reasons, such as a family moving. These vacancies are unpredictable.
The number of openings may vary from year to year and the reality is that only a handful of spaces become available each year. Having a backup plan is wise. You could, for example, accept a spot at your second or third choice facility until a space becomes available at your preferred centre. Also, if possible, try to overlap your earliest and latest start date to include September, taking advantage of the yearly migration of children.
Please log onto your account to access the Waitlist Stats for historic vacancy information on your selected Provider.
In some instances. Most Childcare Providers will give consideration to applicants who meet certain priority criteria on all or a subset of their vacancies. These criteria may shift with the unique needs and goals of the Centre. Examples include giving enrollment consideration to:
Below are a few tips when registering onto a waitlist:
#1 Be willing to consider a wider range with your earliest and latest possible start dates.
Having a wider range in your start date window increases your chances of being eligible for an opening. Keep in mind that more openings will occur in the fall (September) from children moving into pre/play-school and kindergarten. This migration of the oldest cohort out of the Childcare Provider triggers movement of children to new rooms, creating more openings in the younger groups. A wide spread between your earliest and latest start date may help catch this migration. Similarly, you can try to align your earliest and latest start dates to overlap with a month that historically has more vacancies. Please access your family profile for detailed information about vacancies filled in the past and your standing on those vacancies.
#2 Make sure you have set your affiliations correctly and check off the relevant priority statements (e.g., “already enrolled sibling”) applicable to each of your registrations.
Some Childcare Providers have agreements with organizations to offer preference to their employees. Also, the other priority attributes may be used by the Childcare Provider to determine eligibility for a vacancy. Make sure to set your affiliations and applicable priorities on each of your registrations. You can check the details of each registration through your account. If your affiliations or priorities need to be updated, please contact RegisterForChildcare.ca or the Childcare Provider directly for help.
#3 Have a backup plan.
Childcare Providers often have dozens to hundreds of families waiting for an opening. The reality is that only a handful of spaces become available each year. Childcare Providers are licensed by room and have restrictions on the children-to-care-giver ratio. Typically, once a child is enrolled in a centre, they will stay for a number of years, leaving only when they age out. Having a backup plan is wise. You could, for example, accept a spot at your second or third choice facility until a space becomes available at your preferred centre.
Each vacancy offer will be accompanied by an email and SMS text message notification with the offer expiry date listed. It’s important to respond before the expiry date if you intend to take the spot. Once your offer has expired, the Childcare Provider will move on to the next eligible registration on the waitlist.
Please keep your contact information up-to-date under the "Account & Settings" component of your account. An out-of-date email or phone number may jeopardize your ability to accept a vacancy offer within the required timeframe.
The system will automatically place your registration on-hold if you decline an offer or do not respond to an offer. Don’t worry, "on-hold" is just letting the provider know that you are not ready to accept a space yet. If your registration goes into an on-hold status, you won't be sent vacancy offers until you take your registration off hold. We recommend taking your registration off hold about four to six months before you are ready to accept a spot. To take your registration off hold, simply log into your profile.
After three declined offers, your position will be reset to the back of the waitlist line.
Please think carefully about your start date range declared on your registration. Eligible applicants for a vacancy are selected, in large part, because their listed start date align with the start date of the upcoming vacancy. Depending on the Childcare Provider, you may have the option of delaying your entry but will likely still have to pay their regular fees for holding your spot for a later date.
If you decline an offer, you will not lose your position on the waitlist. However, there is no guarantee that you will be eligible for a future vacancy or receive another vacancy offer.
It’s very difficult to predict when openings will occur and in which age group. The number of openings can also vary year to year.
If you receive an offer from a Childcare Provider that is not your top choice, you may still want to accept the offer. You can always transfer to your preferred centre if you receive a future offer. Most Childcare Centres will send out vacancy offers more than one month before the actual start date so you will have ample time to give your one-month notice of departure.
No, waitlist positions are calculated based on the amount of time you have been waiting compared to others waiting. However, the Childcare Provider may choose priorities, such as institutional affiliations, which can be part of the eligibility criteria. Within those eligible, position is still determined by length of time waiting. Eligibility criteria is unknown until the vacancy is posted.
Many factors affect your eligibility for a vacancy and your position on the waitlist. Some of these factors will stay unknown until an opening is posted by the Childcare Provider, such as age requirement, target start date, affiliation requirements, and other enrollment considerations. An exact waitlist position can only be provided when these parameters are known.
Therefore, the Vacancy Simulator will only provide waitlist standing estimates because the timing and parameters of future vacancies are not predetermined. Your waitlist standing will adjust according to the unique circumstances of a vacancy. When an opening does come up, your exact position for that particular vacancy will be provided under the Vacancy Offers menu.
When registering before your child is born, we encourage using a name like "TBD" and setting the date of birth to your due date. After your child is born, this information can be updated by sending an email to support@RegisterForChildcare.ca. We would be happy to update it for you.
If you can be flexible with your care schedule and/or could accommodate a variety of programs, you have the option of registering onto multiple waitlists with the Childcare Provider. Often, no additional waitlist fees will be charged.
For example, if you are interested in a full-time program but could also accommodate a part-time program offer, please consider registering on both waitlists. If you secure a spot in one program, you will still remain and maintain your position on the other program's waitlist.
You will remain active on the part-time care waitlist even if you accept the offer that does not completely fulfill all your preferred days. A future vacancy offer may arise with care for the remaining days.
Your email address can be changed by going into the Accounts & Settings menu item. Make sure you use an email address that is checked regularly and can be accessed while you are away from work.
We are here to help at Support@RegisterForChildcare.ca or through our contact us form.
Please give us up to a day to respond.