Before- and After-School Care: What's Actually Available

1. The Licence Category That Covers This

Before- and after-school care in PEI falls under School-Age Child Centres, licensed for children from school entry age to 12 years old. These centres cover before/after school hours, professional development (PD) days, and days when school closes for a storm, but unlike infant care in Family Home Centres, they don't carry a province-wide regulated fee; pricing is set by the individual provider.

2. Finding a Licensed Program

Use the PEI Early Learning and Child Care Registry, filter to "School-Aged Centres," and search by your location to see a map of licensed options. This is the same registry used for daycare and preschool searches, so bookmark it once and use it for every stage of child care.

3. What a Real Weekly Cost Looks Like

As an example, CHANCES' Smart Play after-school program charges:

Pricing varies by provider, so treat this as a reference point, not a province-wide rate.

4. Storm Days Change the Math

Because school closures aren't always predictable, before/after-school care providers typically build in a separate storm-day rate rather than folding it into your regular weekly fee. Confirm this specifically when you tour a centre; it's an easy detail to miss until the first snow day of the season.

5. What Some Schools Offer Directly

A number of PEI schools run their own before/after-school programming on-site rather than relying entirely on outside providers. Ask your zoned school directly whether they operate one, since it isn't always listed on the general child care registry alongside standalone centres.