Join the Wait List

The wait list for Mount Zion Early Learning Center can be found through One List, the London Middlesex Child Care Waiting List.

Visit the London and Middlesex Region Child Care Waitlist

Waiting List Policy and Procedures

Date Policy and Procedures Established: March 12, 2025
Date Policy and Procedures Updated: July 15, 2026

Purpose

This policy and the procedures within provide for waiting lists to be administered in a transparent manner. It supports the availability of information about the waiting list for prospective parents in a way that maintains the privacy and confidentiality of children.

The procedures provide steps that will be followed to place children on the waiting list, offer admission, and provide parents with information about their child’s position on the waiting list.

This policy is intended to fulfill the obligations set out under Ontario Regulation 137/15 for a child care centre that maintains a waiting list to have related policies and procedures.

Note: definitions for terms used throughout this plan are provided in a Glossary at the end of the document.

Policy

Wait List

In partnership with local municipalities, families are required to register on OneHSN to access care. Spaces are offered by the Director via email, phone, or text as vacancies arise. Families are contacted based on the date their child was added to OneHSN.

MZELC works closely with local municipalities to help ensure child care services are accessible to families facing barriers to accessing care.

Priority placement is given in the following order: MZELC staff, current enrolled families, Southcrest neighborhood families, and then new families. Within this process, full-time care is prioritized. Requests for part-time care will be considered only after all full-time care requests have been accommodated.

OneHSN is maintained as private and confidential. Parents/guardians may inquire about their child’s position on the waitlist by contacting the Program Supervisor. There is no fee to be placed on the waitlist.

When a space is offered, families have up to two (2) business days to accept or decline. Families may decline an offer and remain on the waitlist; however, after a third declined offer, the application date will be updated to the current date and the child’s placement on the waitlist will be adjusted accordingly. Once a space is accepted, care must begin within two (2) weeks.

Enrollment Policy

Once enrolled at MZELC, any new siblings receive priority consideration for future spaces. Full-time care continues to be prioritized. If a family chooses to reduce their child’s enrollment to part-time care, all waitlist applicants requesting full-time care will be contacted first, and accommodation for a continued part-time space at the program may not be guaranteed.

General

• Mount Zion Early Learning Centre will strive to accommodate all requests for the registration of a child at the child care centre.
• Where the maximum capacity of a program has been reached and spaces are unavailable for new children to be enrolled, the waiting list procedures set out below will be followed.
• No fee will be charged to parents for placing a child on the waiting list.

Procedures

Receiving a Request to Place a Child on the Waiting List

The licensee or designate will receive parental requests to place children on a waiting list via the London and Middlesex Child Care Waitlist, aka the “ONE LIST”. The Waitlist is an online directory to assist families in finding licensed child care programs in the city of London or county of Middlesex.

Determining Placement Priority when a Space Becomes Available

When space becomes available in the program, priority will be given to:

1. Children who are currently enrolled and need to move to the next age grouping, siblings of children currently enrolled, and children of staff.
2. Families within the Southcrest neighborhood
3. Families in need of extra support or requiring fee subsidy

Once these children have been placed, other children on the waiting list will be prioritized based on number of days needed for care, program room availability and the chronology in which the child was placed on the waiting list.

Offering an Available Space

1. Parents of children on the waiting list will be notified via phone call that a space has become available in their requested program.

Parents will be provided a timeframe of 48 hours in which a response is required before the next child on the waiting list will be offered the space.

Where a parent has not responded within the given timeframe, the licensee or designate will contact the parent of the next child on the waiting list to offer them the space.

Responding to Parents who inquire about their Child’s Placement on the Waiting List

1. The director of Mount Zion Early Learning Centre will be the contact person for parents who wish to inquire about the status of their child’s place on the waiting list.

The director will respond to parent inquiries and provide the child’s current position on the list.

Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality

1. The waiting list will be maintained in a manner that protects the privacy and confidentiality of the children and families on the list and therefore only the child’s position on the waiting list will be provided to parents.

Names of other children or families and/or their placement on the waiting list will not be shared with other individuals.

Glossary

Licensee: The individual or corporation named on the licence issued by the Ministry of Education responsible for the operation and management of the child care centre.

Parent: A person having lawful custody of a child or a person who has demonstrated a settled intention to treat a child as a child of his or her family (all references to parent include legal guardians, but will be referred to as “parent” in the policy).

Regulatory Requirements: Ontario Regulation 137/15

Waiting Lists