OXFORD – The Child Health Center has broadened its reach in the community to include a child-care program.

The Child Health Center, which has been serving children and their families for the past 30 years from its Main Street site in Norway, added the child-care program in November, bringing with it educators. The center offers care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers and before- and after-school care for ages 5 through 12.

“The response has been tremendous,” said Patricia Valeriani, community relations coordinator.

The school, which is housed in a 10,000-square-foot section of the old Madison Elementary School building on Madison Avenue off Route 26, has been gutted and redesigned to meet the needs of children, Executive Director Rob Hatch said.

Among the features are soft carpets in the infant rooms where changing tables and play areas are all within sight of each other, half-door bathrooms and child size toilets in the toddler room for children’s privacy and staff access in case of problems. The building is designed with safety, creativity, learning and play all in mind, Hatch said.

The child care center offers more than just a baby-sitting service, he stressed. The preschool program curriculum integrates science, language, art, mathematics and social studies while the toddler program allows children to develop independence, creativity and a positive sense of themselves while learning.

Special education services such as a speech therapy are also offered.

The outdoor play area also is considered part of the classroom, Hatch said. “Learning doesn’t stop just because we’re outside,” he said.

Teacher/children rations are small: 1-to-4 in the infant room; 1-to-5 in the toddler room; and 1-to-8 in the preschool room.

At the heart of the center is the team of teachers and assistants, who work not only with the children but with the family. “We like to wrap ourselves around the whole family,” Hatch said.

There are seven child care workers and staff who are each certified or licensed in various areas, some holding bachelor’s and some master’s degrees in early education.

Hatch said early education is becoming more recognized throughout the state as an important profession, but strides are still needed.

“We need to put more money in this profession. Our idea is to elevate the profession,” Hatch explained.

Although the Department of Education encourages the development of early childhood and all-day kindergarten programs in public schools, they are left to the local districts to implement, and not all school districts have early childhood programs.

For the Child Health Center, developing a child care program was not only an easy decision but one that officials wanted to make sure was top notch so they began an accreditation process with the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The accrediting program, established in 1985 to set professional standards for early childhood education, is a widely recognized sign of quality early education programs.

The Child Health Center’s developmental therapy preschool was the first such program in Oxford Hills to receive the national accreditation and the child care center been designed under the same guidelines, Hatch said.

The center is going through the accreditation process.

“That is the gold standard,” he said.