Who hears about
a spot, and why.

A director posts a real opening

Age group, program type, start date, how many spots. It takes a director about two minutes. We don't list "waitlist open" or "call us": only spots that exist.

We check the clock first

Every family tells us the date they need care by. That date puts you on one of two clocks:

Active

Your care date is within 6 months (or up to 60 days ago, because life happens). You're eligible for alerts.

Waiting

Your date is more than 6 months out. We hold your place, send you a monthly read on what's opening near you, and a heads-up when a centre you ranked posts. No alerts yet: a spot that far ahead will be gone, and you'd be paying for care you can't use.

The start date has to fit yours

A spot counts for you when it starts between 90 days before and 30 days after your care date. Families will often start a little early to lock in a spot; almost nobody can wait past their date. If your date has passed, we treat "today" as your date.

Your ranked centres come first

When you build your profile you rank the centres you actually want, by name. We match on the exact centre, not the brand. If you ranked the Rougemount location of a chain, the Bowmanville location of the same chain is not your centre.

A centre you didn't rank is only considered if it's within 3 km of your home or 2 km of one of your picks, and only when the program type and start date fit closely. We never recommend something across the region because it "sort of" matches.

Families are scored and the best fits are told

Each eligible family gets a score. Roughly in order of weight:

Your ranking

#1 counts most, then #2, and so on. An unranked-but-close centre scores like a distant rank.

Date fit

How close the spot's start is to your date. Exact is best; the edges of the window count least.

Distance

From your home postal code to the centre. Under 2 km is best; past 20 km adds nothing.

Program

Full day, part time, before/after school, Montessori. A match helps; "any" gets partial credit.

Fairness

Small bonuses for needing care within a month, for how long you've been waiting, and for narrowly missing earlier spots. Ties are shuffled so nobody is stuck at the back for ever.

The top 3 families are emailed. Only matches above a minimum score go out at all; a weak fit is held, not sent. If a spot is still open after 24 hours, the next 3 families hear about it.

You call, and the director knows you're a real match

Your alert has the centre's phone number and a Call button. Give the director your TinyMatch code and they can confirm your match in their dashboard. We call this One-Call Confidence: the first family a director calls is one who already wants their centre and can start when the spot does.

A real care date and your home postal code

The date drives everything above. The first three characters of your postal code are enough; we use it only to measure distance and never share it.

One tap when we check in

Around your care date we'll ask: still looking, found care, or pause? "Found care" frees your place for the next family and tells directors TinyMatch works. "Still looking" lets you move your date in one tap.