A Frequent Question…

PLASP often receives the question, “Why is there a waitlist?” Here are some reasons why:

Registration opens for the next school year

Registration for PLASP’s before and after school programs for the upcoming school year generally opens to all families in January of the same calendar year. All requests are time and date stamped and processed in order based on their original date of submission. From mid-March onward, PLASP’s Registration Team works with the intention of processing all family requests by the end of the current school year to update families on their registration status.

Volume of Requests

PLASP proudly serves over ten-thousand children across our four-partnering school boards, in 240 school locations. When there is a higher-than-usual volume of requests to process, it can take a little longer and we thank you for your patience.

Children will “graduate” out of before and after school programs

Children currently enrolled in kindergarten-age programs who are about to move up to school-age programs, as well as children who are now twelve-years-old and graduating from PLASP, will be making room for new children to begin in that program come fall. Your child may be showing as waitlisted during the intermitted time period.

It's best to secure your spot early

Some before and after school program locations simply do fill-up. PLASP makes every effort to meet the needs of all families looking to utilize our services. PLASP communicates via email with all current families about important upcoming dates, including registration. In addition, families are encouraged to follow PLASP on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as keep an eye on PLASP’s website, where updates are posted regularly.

PLASP’s Early Learning and Child Care Centres

PLASP operates 28 Early Learning and Child Care Centres across Brampton, Caledon, Mississauga and Toronto. PLASP centres offer a range of infant, toddler and preschool age care depending on the location. Spaces do tend to fill-up quickly, particularly for infant care and many parents-to-be decide to place their child on the waitlist even prior to their child’s birth. There is no waitlist fee charged.

If you are interested in registering your child for a PLASP Child Care Centre, PLASP recommends contacting the Centre Director at the specific centre you are interested in to inquire about their waitlist. To find the contact information for a centre, visit www.plasp.com and use the blue, “Search for Care” box on the main page. 

Summer, Winter Holiday and Spring Break programs

PLASP’s Summer, Winter Holiday and Spring Break programs are available to current PLASP families and are offered at select locations. Program spaces do fill-up quite quickly and PLASP encourages current families to register as soon as the registration opens. Registration timelines are emailed to current families in advance. Additionally, PLASP communicates important upcoming registration dates via our social media channels.

Families who remain on the waitlist for these programs may be offered a space if families cancel, or, if additional locations are opened.

What other factors should parents be aware of?

PLASP Child Care Services is a licensed, award-winning child care provider. PLASP works closely with the Ontario Ministry of Education on licensing requirements, including staff-to-child ratios to ensure the safety of our children and our staff. As a result, PLASP cannot increase the number of children in a program beyond its limit without first balancing the ratio of staff-to-children.

PLASP waitlists do fluctuate daily and are subject to change. Additionally, PLASP will work with families to determine if alternate arrangements can be made; for example, in some cases, school age programs can accept a certain percentage of kindergarten children into their programs, and vice versa.

PLASP will email waitlisted families every three months to ensure they would like to remain on the waitlist. If a family doesn’t reply, or replies no, they are automatically taken off the list. PLASP highly recommends that parents keep an up-to-date email address on their child’s online registration file for this purpose.

For more information:

You may log into your family profile at www.plasp.com at any time to check the status of your request. PLASP will email parents with the status of their request as soon as it has been processed.

Additionally, PLASP’s Support Services Centre handles phone calls Monday to Friday from 7 AM to 6 PM with the exception of statutory holidays and can be reached at 647-484-4372 (long distance: 1-888-739-4102), or my emailing childcare@plasp.com.

To ensure no comment gets left unread, your comments are moderated and won't appear until approved. Comments relating to your child’s registration in a PLASP program including but not limited to program requests, cancellations and additions cannot be addressed through the PLASP blog and will not appear. If you require assistance registering or making changes to your child’s program, please call Support Services at 647-484-4372 (long distance: 1-888-739-4102), Monday to Friday from 7 AM to 6 PM.