The Beanstalk Early Learning Centre is now part of the province-wide program offering $10 a day childcare.
Its 48 licensed spaces are the third most of the 25 providers spread across the provice now added to the program, indicates the provincial government in a release.
All together, 700 additional spaces are now eligible for the $10 daily fee, part of a provincial plan to have 15,000 spaces offered up for $10 a day by this spring.
The Beanstalk Early Learning Centre, part of the Houston Community Services Association suite of programs, moved into Silverthorne Elementary in 2021.
It occupies what would have been vacant space through an extensive renovation financed by the provincial government.
In announcing the addition of Beanstalk and other programs, the province said the intention was to focus on communities that do not yet have access to the $10 a day program or who have a low number compared to the population.
The licence for the space at Silverthorne is for 48 children. Of that number, 24 spaces are before and afterschool care, 16 are daycare ages 30 months to 5 years and the last 8 are for infant/toddler spaces.
Fees prior to the $10 a day program were $60 a day, including food, and that was below the provincial average of $70 a day, a sum that did not include food.
That fee structure fits in with provincial estimates that the average monthly cost was $1,120 a month. The $10 fee now amounts to $200 a month.
Money for the $10 program comes from both the provincial and federal governments.