Continuous learning and growth is important for children and for early years partners. The Region's continuous quality improvement program is centered on this belief. Early Years Engage (EYE) helps child care and early learning programs take an ongoing approach to improving.

On this page:

• 2025/2026 EYE - Continuous Quality Improvement Plan (CQIP)
• Expectations for Early Years Partners
• Support for Early Years Partners
• Equity & Inclusion Policy and Commitment
• Infant and Early Years Mental Health Resources
• Quality Matters!
• Additional Resources

2025/2026 EYE - Continuous Quality Improvement Plan (CQIP)

Children's Services is excited to be enhancing the Early Years Engage process to continue supporting continuous quality improvement within our Early Years Learning and Child Care Community. As the Early Years Engage process continues to be revised, we will continue to make updates to our Quality Initiatives webpage. Please see our current resources below. These items are available on the CHS portal.

2025/2026 Continuous Quality Improvement Plan - Information Guide & Appendices

• 2025/2026 EYE cycle graphic
• CQI Plan Steps and Submission Dates
• Appendix 1 - EYE Continuous Quality Improvement Plan (CQIP)  
• Appendix 2 - The Accomplishments and Challenges Tool
  
• Appendis 2 - Outil de Réalisation et de Défis – EYE
• Appendix 3 - Self-Reflection Tool through the HDLH Lens
• Appendis 3 - L'outil d'auto-réflexion à travers le HDLH
  
• Appendix 4 - Team Engagement Tips from the PRC
• Appendix 5 - Program Self - Assessment Tools Options 
• Appendix 6 - Infographics  

Expectations for Early Years Partners

Our early years partners (licensed child care centres, licensed home child care agencies, special needs resourcing agencies and EarlyON child and family centres) who contract with the Region will:

• Continually review their practices to better meet the needs of children and families and to align with Our Vision for Quality in Waterloo Region 
• Develop short and long terms goals for growth
• Create action plans to meet the goals
• Evaluate progress against 'Our Vision' and the Region of Waterloo Service Plan
• Involve all staff in the continuous improvement process
• Have flexibility in choosing focus areas for their goals 
• Build relationships with each other and the Region, and celebrate successes

Support for Early Years Partners

Early years engage will provide the following supports to all early years partners (licensed child care centres, licensed home child care agencies, special needs resourcing agencies and EarlyON child and family centres) who contract with the Region: 

• Staff training and development policy (currently under revision)
• Guidelines for continuous professional learning (currently under revision)
• Help navigating OneList Waterloo Region and expectations for service providers
• Children's Services portal to allow for information and document sharing between Children's Services 
  and Early Years Partners
• Annual planning and site visits to share knowledge and ideas
• Parent survey to gather parent perspective about the program and inform system-wide planning

Contact us for more information about Early Years Engage or for copies of Early Years Engage policies or templates.

Quality matters

High quality Early Years programs play an important role in healthy child development and improving quality of life for families. Licensed Child Care operators are working with Region of Waterloo to keep improving the quality of their services. The ongoing focus on improving program quality is supported by the Region of Waterloo’s Quality Initiatives team and Conestoga College’s Professional Resource Centre.

Each year all Licensed Child Care programs follow a continuous quality improvement cycle. The annual cycle starts by gathering information to reflect on areas that are working well and identify areas that need improvement.

Next, the Licensed Child Care programs each make commitments to work on concrete changes that to improve experiences, relationships, and environments that benefit children and families, leading to a higher quality of life. Early Years Engage is built on The Ministry of Education’s resource guide: How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's Pedagogy for the Early Years. This guide supports educators to look at the what they do every day and understand how their actions have an impact on children and their families in six key areas: 

1. Establishing positive, responsive adult-child relationships;
2. Providing inclusive learning environments and experiences that encourage exploration, play, and inquiry;
3. Engaging children as co-learners along with families/caregivers, and others;
4. Planning and creating environments as a “third teacher”;
5. Using documentation to make the children’s thinking and the learning visible; and
6. Participating in ongoing reflective practice and collaborative inquiry with others.