Built by a teacher, run like a small classroom.
Nine years in, we're still the size we planned to stay — one location, four rooms, and a staff that knows every family by name.
Priya Novak, Director
Priya taught grade one and two in the Calgary Board of Education for nine years before opening Maple & Sparrow in 2016. She kept meeting parents of her students describing the same scramble a few years earlier: long daycare waitlists, high staff turnover, and centers where kids spent most of the day indoors.
She built Maple & Sparrow around the opposite of that — a single site kept deliberately small, ratios held below what's required for each room, and an outdoor program that runs in every season rather than getting cancelled at the first cold snap. Priya is on-site most weekdays, still teaches Friday circle time herself, and reviews every child's daily report before it goes home.
She holds an Alberta Early Learning and Child Care certification and is trained in pediatric first aid and CPR, renewed annually along with the rest of the staff.
Play is the curriculum, not a break from it.
Child-led, teacher-guided
Children choose activities within a structured day, and teachers step in to extend the learning already happening — not redirect it toward a worksheet.
Outdoors, on purpose
Every room goes outside at least twice a day, year-round. We keep spare snow pants, mitts, and sunscreen on hand so weather is rarely the reason a child stays in.
Same faces, all year
Staff move up with a cohort where possible, so children aren't relearning a new adult's routines every September.
The people your child sees every day.
Priya Novak
Director & Founder
With Maple & Sparrow since 2016
Marcus Oduya
Infant Room Lead
6 years with our team
Fatima Haidari
Toddler Room Lead
4 years with our team
Colin Baptiste
Pre-K Lead
3 years with our team
Every teacher holds an Early Learning and Child Care certification, current pediatric first aid and CPR training, and a cleared vulnerable-sector background check on file before their first day.