BC-based early learning centre opens location in Burlington

A new early learning centre for children ages 18 months to five years old has opened in Burlington.

Principal Mariana Pinglo is excited for parents, who will be able to see their children developing early learning skills to set them up for success in the future.

Core Education and Fine Arts (CEFA) arrived in Ontario, with its first centre located at 4144 South Service Rd. in Burlington. 

Originally from BC, CEFA is an early learning private school with a curriculum designed to educate and develop the whole child, says Pinglo.

By that, she means the four key areas of brain development: language, numeracy, peer social skills, and emotional control/emotional intelligence.

The Burlington location is a spacious school that has a secure outdoor playground and an on-site professional kitchen with in-house chef to prepare homemade, nutritious meals.

Pinglo said the school opened in April, and classes are slowly filling up; a fourth classroom is expected to be opening soon.

“It’s getting more word of mouth as people start to see the benefits of an academic environment for the little guys,” she said, adding she even has a family who moved from British Columbia who had once tried to be enrolled out west, but the school was full. She said they were excited to find the program in their new home in Ontario.

 She said many families have been enrolling from areas 40 minutes or more away from the location because they’re so impressed.

“I fell in love with this program; I went to a program like this,” added Pinglo, who noted its founder is from Uruguay.

“It builds brain architecture and better academic success when they get older.”

CEFA provides the school with plenty of support, curriculum, teacher training and resources, and holds regular PA days for staff members. The school is constantly changing and evolving to meet the world’s trends, she added. It can accommodate 86 students, full or part-time.

For instance, they currently offer the children a coding program. “The program was developed by a coding company to create worlds for children to teach them the concept of STEM basics and coding.”

As a result, she said, the children are constantly evolving.

Tuition is higher, since the program provides higher learning, Pinglo said, adding that “some child care (elsewhere) is play-based; we are a program that focuses on education.

She said she is ecstatic in her role as principal and stands strongly behind the CEFA program that is impressing parents already.

She said one family told her that their child can not just write a letter, but pronounce it in print and in other items: “Bee starts with a B, broccoli starts with a B,” she used as an example.

She said CEFA has been educating children for 25 years, focusing on little details to make sure that every opportunity is a learning chance.

CEFA touts itself as “BC’s leading private school for children ages one to five.”

“Studies show that years one to five are critical for building brain architecture,” said Natacha Beim, CEO and founder, CEFA Early Learning. “In the first few years of life, more than one million new neural connections are formed every second. After this period of rapid development, connections are reduced through a process called pruning, so that brain circuits become more efficient. We designed CEFA schools to provide children with the right education at the right time: during the brain’s most formative years. And we are thrilled to now offer that to Ontario families.” 

CEFA offers an enriched program to students designed to develop and foster intellect, creativity, social skills, gross and fine motor skills, confidence, and self-awareness for preschool aged children.  To learn more, go to CEFA.ca.