Learning centre honoured provincially
When it opened two years ago the people in charge at the Little Owl Learning Centre set out to change the lives of children locally.
The group was honored Friday during a ceremony in Edmonton and was named as one of the recipients of the Minister’s Award of Excellence in Child Development — an award given out to a number of groups and individuals in the province who make life better for children and families.
“We found out that we were going to be winning about a month ago but we weren’t allowed to tell anyone,” said Little Owl owner Justine Mann. “Winning this award is so special for us and it means a lot to us.”
The nomination for the award came from two families that have used Little Owl’s services and the nomination statements recounted experiences with the facility and its staff — as well as the collaborations Little Owl has made with a number of partners in the community. Mann says the partnerships have been important in establishing Little Owl.
“Telesa Bullock is a behaviour interventionist with School District 76 and was a mentor for us and worked very closely with our team and with the families who nominated us,” said Mann. “When we started this we just wanted to make a difference and hearing these stories from these families was really special to us.
“Opening this with the goal to change the lives of children, and being acknowledged for that is amazing.”
Little Owl works with young children and creates curriculum around their interests.
“We aim to help kids 0-6 with things like social skills and emotional identification through situational experiences and through play,” said Mann. “We try and provide everyone a learning-rich setting.”