The Wiregrass Ranch community will soon have its own full-fledged child care center.
Kiddie Academy of Wiregrass Ranch is set to open this fall — serving children from 6 weeks to 12 years old.
The 10,000-square-foot facility is being built at 2900 Hueland Pond Blvd., in Wesley Chapel, right across the street from Wiregrass Ranch High School and Pasco-Hernando State College Porter Campus on Mansfield Boulevard.
It marks the first child care center in Wiregrass Ranch.
Educational day care programming will be offered for preschool, voluntary pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, while aftercare programming will be offered for kids ages 6 to 12 years old; various summer camp programs also will be available.
At build out, Kiddie Academy of Wiregrass Ranch will be able to accommodate 167 students and will have upward of 40 staff members, according to its franchisee and owner Javier Rojas, who was present at a Jan. 3 groundbreaking ceremony for the facility.
Kiddie Academy is a franchise with more than 200 locations nationwide, including a location in Carrollwood and another coming in Westchase. The franchise was founded in 1981.
Rojas, who is chief medical officer at AdventHealth Zephyrhills (formerly Florida Hospital Zephyrhills), said he and his wife, Maggie Delgado, had an interest in opening a franchise in the Wesley Chapel area about two years ago.
Realizing a need for child care in the area, Rojas said the couple set their sights on Kiddie Academy “to give back and be part of this community and extend our roots.”
The Wiregrass Ranch location will utilize the Kiddie Academy Life Essentials curriculum, which promotes each child’s intellectual, social, physical and emotional growth.
In addition to age-based curriculum, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and music classes will be offered for all ages.
The academy, too, will feature family-style dining, whereby kids will all share in eating nutritious meals together at the same table.
Rojas said at Kiddie Academy, students “learn without knowing they’re learning.”
Rojas added: “Our developmentally appropriate curriculum gives your child a full day of learning no matter what he or she is doing. Some of the best learning happens without your child knowing it.
“Respect, friendship, sharing, compassion and manners — those are the life essentials that Kiddie Academy would like to proliferate,” he said.
The aftercare center, meanwhile, will have playrooms with computers for kids to use for homework, and for fun.
Kiddie Academy also will feature a large outdoor recreation area, equipped with a soccer field, splash pad, playground, race track, and a harvesting garden and other amenities.
Also noteworthy: Instead of a drop-off and pickup line, Kiddie Academy parents will be required to sign in and sign out their children each day, via a check-in system requiring a fingerprint ID.
For more information, call (813) 702-5656, or visit KiddieAcademy.com/academies/wiregrass-ranch/.
Published January 9, 2019
