Licensed childcare in downtown Saskatoon.
Pulse Academy is a licensed early learning centre at 331 1st Avenue North, in the Tees & Persse Building. Infant, toddler and preschool rooms, government fee reduction applied automatically, and — unusually for Saskatoon right now — spaces available.
Finding childcare in Saskatoon is harder than it should be
If you have spent the last few months calling centres across Saskatoon, you already know the pattern. You reach a waitlist rather than a person. You are told a space will open when a family leaves. Nobody can tell you when that might be, and in the meantime your parental leave is running out.
This is not a failure of the centres. Demand in Saskatoon simply outpaces licensed capacity, and it has for years. Several of the city's long-established non-profit centres are open about it: their lists are long, and movement depends entirely on children ageing out or families relocating.
Pulse Academy opened recently, which is the single most useful thing about us if you are searching today. We are building our rooms from the beginning rather than managing a decade-long queue. That will not last indefinitely, but right now a family joining our waitlist is being considered for a real, near-term space rather than added to the end of a list of hundreds.
What Pulse Academy is
Pulse Academy is a licensed childcare facility operating under Saskatchewan's childcare legislation, licence number 90, regulated and inspected by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. We run three age-grouped rooms in a purpose-fitted space on the ground floors of the Tees & Persse Building at 331 1st Avenue North.
We are also part of something larger. Pulse Family Club is a members' club built around family life, and Pulse City Club is the adults-only side of the same building — a members' lounge, meeting rooms and coworking. The Academy stands entirely on its own: you can enroll a child without any club membership, and most families do exactly that. But for parents who work downtown, the fact that childcare and a desk sit in the same building changes the shape of the day considerably.
Our three programs
Children are grouped by age and developmental stage, in line with provincial categories.
Infant room
For children under 18 months. Infant care is the most individual care we provide, and the least schedule-driven. Educators follow each baby's own rhythm for sleeping, feeding and play rather than imposing a room-wide routine, and communicate what happened through the day so you are not guessing at bedtime.
Infant spaces are the scarcest category in Saskatoon and the first to fill anywhere in the city. If you are expecting or on leave, this is the room worth enquiring about earliest.
Toddler room
For children 18 to 30 months. This is the year of movement, language and testing limits. The room is set up for children who have just found their feet: space to move safely, materials they can reach and choose themselves, and educators who narrate and expand on what a child is doing rather than directing it.
Preschool room
For children from 30 months to school entry. Play-based early learning, with the social and pre-literacy foundations that make the transition to kindergarten feel ordinary rather than abrupt: taking turns, following a sequence, recognising letters and numbers in context, managing a small disappointment without it ending the morning.
What it costs
Pulse Academy participates in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement, which means the parent fee reduction is applied to every licensed space we operate. It is applied automatically. There is no income test, and no application for you to complete.
In practice this means the fee you pay is a fraction of the unsubsidised cost of care, and it is the same for your family as for any other family in the same room. We bill the reduced amount directly, monthly, through Brightwheel — you are never invoiced the full fee and asked to claim it back.
Alongside the monthly fee there is a one-time enrollment fee and an annual membership fee per child. There are also several optional programs — an enhanced meal program for specific dietary needs, quarterly specialty programming, a personal items program so you are not packing diapers and sunscreen every week, and an extended-hours rate for days when a child is in care beyond ten hours. None of the optional programs is required to enroll or to stay enrolled.
Current rates
Full-time care is $217.50 a month in every age group after the parent fee reduction is applied. The reduction is larger for younger children, because unsubsidised infant care costs more to provide:
- Infant $1,118.00 total − $900.50 $217.50
- Toddler, 18–30 months $885.00 total − $667.50 $217.50
- 30 months to preschool $828.00 total − $610.50 $217.50
Alongside the monthly fee there is a one-time $200 enrollment fee and a $250 annual membership fee per child. Optional programs are $25 a month each.
Educators, ratios and safety
Every educator at Pulse Academy holds early childhood education certification at the level required by provincial regulation, and every member of staff completes a criminal record check and vulnerable sector screening before working with children.
Staff-to-child ratios and maximum group sizes follow Saskatchewan regulation for each age category and are maintained throughout the day, not just at peak times. Ratios and group sizes are set by Saskatchewan childcare legislation and maintained throughout the day, not only at peak times.
Attendance, sign-in and sign-out times, daily records, incident reports and photographs are all kept in Brightwheel, which is also where you will receive updates through the day. That record is what allows us to charge extended-hours fees only where they are genuinely incurred, and it is what a licensing officer reviews on inspection.
Where we are, and getting here
331 1st Avenue North sits in the Tees & Persse Building, a restored heritage warehouse in the middle of downtown Saskatoon — walking distance from the 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue office blocks, the riverbank, and the downtown transit corridor.
For parents who work downtown, that location is the point. Drop-off does not require a detour to a suburb and back. If your child has a difficult morning, you are minutes away rather than across the city.
Hours are 7:00 am to 6:30 pm, Monday to Friday. Parking is available directly in front of the building on the street, and in designated spaces in our parking lot immediately south of the building.
How to enroll
Enrollment runs through Brightwheel, the childcare platform we use for waitlists, records and billing. The process is short:
- Create a Brightwheel account and complete the enrollment form. This adds your family to our waitlist and takes a few minutes.
- We contact you to confirm the details, the room your child would join, and timing.
- Come and see the space. Tours are free, carry no obligation, and you are welcome to bring your children.
- Complete enrollment, and we will set up your Brightwheel access ahead of the first day.
If you would rather talk to a person before filling in anything, email us. We would rather answer your questions early than have you complete a form you were unsure about.
Common questions
Do I need to be a club member to enroll my child?
No. The Academy is a standalone licensed childcare centre and most enrolled families are not club members. Club membership is a separate choice, and either can come first.
How long is your waitlist?
Shorter than most centres in Saskatoon, because we opened recently rather than accumulating a list over many years. Infant spaces move fastest. Email us and we will tell you honestly where you would sit for the room and start date you need.
What ages do you take?
From infancy through to school entry, across three rooms: infant under 18 months, toddler 18 to 30 months, and preschool from 30 months until your child starts school.
Is the fee reduction automatic, or do I apply?
Automatic. Every licensed space at Pulse is in the provincial fee schedule. There is no income test and nothing for you to apply for — we bill you the reduced rate directly.
Can you accommodate allergies and specific diets?
Yes. Allergies and medical dietary requirements are handled as a matter of course and recorded in your child's file. For broader dietary preferences — gluten-free, lactose-free, vegetarian, vegan, halal and others — we run an optional enhanced meal program that covers specialty ingredients and separate preparation.
Come and see the rooms.
A tour takes about half an hour, costs nothing, and tells you more than any page can. Bring your children.
Pulse Academy · Licence 90 · 331 1st Avenue North, Saskatoon