Subscribing your Preschool, Daycare or Childcare CenterPolicies for Different Types of Programs |
How-To for Daycare & Preschool Subscribers
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Who can subscribe?
Preschools, daycares, childcare centers, and similar programs in the SF Bay Area that are licensed by the State of California's Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) can subscribe to BPN and post about their programs. BPN does not accept subscriptions for unlicensed programs except for those that are exempt from licensing, such as programs operated by a city or school district. See Policies for Different Types of Programs below for details.
How do I subscribe?
Click 'subscribe' in the upper right corner, or click this link: Subscribe. You will be purchasing your subscription using Paypal. If you don't already have a Paypal account you'll have the chance to create one using your school's credit card, debit card, or bank account. (View more information about paying for your subscription.)
Note: If your daycare or preschool is not already listed on our website, we will need to know the name of your daycare or preschool, the city it's in, and your site license number. Please include this information when you subscribe.
How much does it cost?
- Programs operated by a city or a public school district may subscribe to BPN for free.
- In-home daycares are $35 for small daycares and $75 for large daycares.
- For all other programs, including nonprofit preschools, the subscription fee is $75 - $250 per year, depending on the capacity on your CCLD site license. Smaller programs pay less than larger ones. Click here to view subscription fees.
What are the benefits of subscribing?
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Post announcements about openings at your facility and post about upcoming tours and open houses, events you host that are open to the public, and job openings. All posts are public on the BPN website for 30 days, after which you can post a new announcement. You can have more than one active post if they are about different programs. All new posts are included in the weekly Announcements newsletter, which is emailed to subscribers (39,000 parent subscribers as of Spring 2022.)
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View a list of parents currently seeking childcare, and contact them about openings at your daycare.
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Edit your profile page on our website to add/update a description of your programs, your contact information, options available at your facility such as meals, sibling discounts, potty training support, and more. Parents can search for daycares & preschools on the BPN website using this information.
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A special 'B' icon will be displayed next to your name in our listings to show that you are a BPN Community Subscriber.
Policies for Different Types of Programs
New sites that haven't received their license yet
If you are opening a new childcare facility, but your license has not yet been finalized by CCLD, you can still subscribe to BPN as long as you have been assigned a "pending" license number. This will let you begin publicizing your program on BPN before you open.
After-school childcare for K-12 students
After-school childcare for K-12 children is required to be licensed by the state as a "School Age Child Care Center." BPN does not accept subscriptions from or reviews about unlicensed facilities.
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Daycares, preschools, and childcare centers for children 0-5: Your BPN subscription includes the ability to post about any after-school care you offer as long as it complies with the terms of your site license.
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After-school programs operated by a school or a city: These programs are not required to be licensed and BPN does not require a separate subscription as long as the after-school program is available only to children at the school. See Schools that also operate classes or summer programs for information about schools that offer after-school programs to children who don;t attend the school.
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Standalone after-school programs: Your subscription fee is based on the capacity on your site license and also includes the ability to post about any summer or holiday camps that you operate at the same site, assuming they comply with your license.
- Multiple activities offered, including after-school childcare: If your childcare facility also operates classes, workshops or similar activities for parents or children, your subscription fee is based on the maximum capacity your site can accommodate at once. If you also offer non-class activities such as counseling, performances, or exhibits, then you must subscribe as a business. See Businesses that also operate camps, classes, or groups for more information.
Forest schools and other outdoor programs for ages 0-5
BPN accepts posts about licensed preschools only, so we cannot subscribe your forest school unless you have a childcare site license. For more information, see Unlicensed Outdoor Programs for Preschoolers.
Daycares, preschools & childcare programs that also operate a summer camp
If your daycare or preschool operates a camp during summer or during holidays when your preschool isn't in session, your subscription includes the ability to post about your camp as long as the capacity on your license is maintained.
Daycares & preschools that are part of a K-12 school
Your subscription will include both your K-12 school and your preschool. Each program will have its own profile page; your preschool will be included in the Preschools & Daycares Database and your school will be included in the K-12 Schools Database. You must subscribe both the preschool and the school at the same time even if you only want to publicize one program but not the other. Your subscription fee will be based on either the combined capacity of all your programs, or on each program separately. For details, see If you have more than one site and If you offer one than one type of program.
How do I post about openings in my program?
Click 'Post a Message' and post to Announcements if you have openings. If you have scheduled an open house, informational session, or tours, post to Events. For detailed instructions, see How to Post an Announcement and How to Post an Event.
To see examples of how other daycares and preschools have posted about their openings, see Events and Announcements.
How do I update my profile page?
You can edit the profile page for your daycare or preschool when you are logged in to the BPN website. There are two way to edit it: 1) find your profile page on the BPN website and click the 'Edit' tab. 2) Go to your account page (click 'my account' in the upper right corner of any page) and scroll down to 'My Profile Page'. Click the 'edit' link next to your profile page.
Note: Some of the fields on your page (such as program name, owner, city, license number, capacity) can only be edited by BPN administrators because they are related to your license. If a licensing-related field needs to be corrected, please contact us.
- About the Program: Type in a short description of your program, which will appear in a shaded box at the top of your page. Include information about what you offer, your program's philosophy, details about ages and hours, information about openings.
- Phone: This field accepts any format for phone numbers. You can enter more than one phone number, or add text such as "email preferred" or "call before 9pm."
- Email: Enter a full, valid email address. Parents will be able to click on this to send you an email.
- Website: If your program has a website, enter its URL (address) and it will be clickable.
- Neighborhood: BPN does not store your street address for privacy reasons, but if you are located in a city that has commonly-used neighborhood names, you can indicate that here. Examples: Richmond Annex, Montclair, Berkeley Hills
- Monthly Cost: You can enter your monthly tuition here if you like, to give parents an idea of what their costs will be.
- Languages Spoken: Check any languages that are spoken at your facility. Parents can search for this.
- Ages Served : Enter the ages you accept, in months. Parents can search programs for this.
- Days and Hours: Enter the usual days and hours for your program. If you have different programs on different days, you can indicate this in "About the Program"
- Affiliation: This lets parents search for specific type of programs, such as religious affiliations, co-ops, or educational philosophies such as Waldorf or Montessori.
- Additional Services: Check any services that you offer such as meals, potty training, etc. This helps parents identify the programs that will meet their needs.