About us
A small bilingual daycare, run the way we would want for our own
Ile Coco opened on Somerled in NDG in 2018 and grew a second home in Lachine in 2022. Two houses, the same idea: keep the groups small, cook the food ourselves, speak both languages, and leave the screens out of it.
Where things stand
- Somerled (NDG) opened
- 2018
- Lachine opened
- 2022
- Maximum children per educator
- 7:1
- Ages welcomed
- 7 mo – 5 yr
Why we stay small
A maximum of seven children per educator, often fewer. Small groups are the whole point — they are what makes it possible for an educator to notice that a child is off today, to let a project run long because it is going well, and to send home a journal entry that is specific rather than generic. Growth for its own sake would cost us the thing families come here for.
Two languages, lived not drilled
French and English are woven through the day — the morning circle, the songs, the books, the small negotiations over who gets the blue cup. Children arrive with every combination of home languages and leave comfortable in both. Bilingual the way Montréal is bilingual, rather than the way a curriculum is.
Food cooked here, every day
Three meals and snacks come out of our own kitchen, built around what little bodies actually need. Menus are reviewed weekly against the allergens we are hosting that month, and our chef and lead educator both hold current food-safety credentials.
Private, and clear about it
Ile Coco is a private, non-subsidized daycare. We are not part of Quebec’s reduced-contribution network, so there is no government list to sit on and no waiting years for a place. Families who want a small, bilingual, screen-free room — with space for babies as well as toddlers — and a spot that actually opens tend to find that trade worth making.
Come meet us
The best way to understand Ile Coco is to spend an hour in the rooms.