Welcome
Welcome to Great Bay Kids’ Company! Early childhood education in the first five years is the foundation for all future learning and we at Great Bay Kids’ are excited to partner with families and the community to create a successful education and environment for all children 6 weeks to 12 years.
Our Mission
Great Bay Kids’ Company is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality early childhood education and school age enrichment programs for children.
Our Philosophy
“The Child Comes First” is the basic philosophy of our programs. We believe that the program must adapt to the child and not the child to the program.
Planning revolves around the needs and cues from each child. By respecting and encouraging individual abilities, we hope to develop a strong feeling of self-esteem in each child.
Since childrens’ basic needs are diverse, we provide for all aspects of the child’s development: physical, social, intellectual and emotional.
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Our History
Beginning
The Newmarket Community Action Council for Day Care Centers, Inc. was incorporated in September of 1967 as a non-profit organization to administer quality child care programs for children. The Center’s funding came through local fundraising and a grant from the Spaulding-Potter Charitable Trust. In 1973, the Agency applied for a 3 to 1 matching federal grant through the Division of Welfare. In 1980 the name of the Agency changed to “The Newmarket/ Exeter Child Care Center Inc.” to reflect the additional programs provided. We changed names again in 1997 to reflect who we are today, Great Bay Kids’ Company.
Newmarket
The Newmarket Child Care Center was opened on October 2, 1967 for 40 children. It was relocated to 3 Simons Lane in Newmarket in 1977, where it still stands. In 1983 the building was expanded to serve 64 children. Newmarket’s program has changed to meet the needs of the community, with their most recent addition including an infant program, starting in 2016.
Exeter
We established before and after school programs in Exeter in 1990. Programs at both the Main Street and Lincoln Street schools offer care for elementary school children before and after regular school hours as well as during school vacations, some holidays and snow days. In the fall of 2008 we opened an after- school program at the Newfield’s Elementary School for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.
Portsmouth
Due to a need for more quality child care in the Portsmouth area, we opened a center at the Pease Tradeport in January of 2010. This center is located at 81 New Hampshire Avenue and was our first center to provide care for infants. This is also the location of our Agency’s business office