We Believe . . .

Children learn best through play, exploration and interactions with people and with the environment.

• Our indoor/outdoor classrooms provide rich, complex and nurturing spaces for exploration.

When children are able to choose their own activities and materials, they gain knowledge of their world.

• We support individual interests and needs with the activities and materials offered.

Children need uninterrupted blocks of time to freely explore.

• Our flexible schedules enable focused engagement, new discoveries and meaningful social interactions.

Inquiry-based projects develop critical thinking skills.

• We offer children opportunities to observe, question, test, hypothesize and discuss their work.

Open-ended questions encourage new ideas.

• Our educators do not give direct “instruction” instead they enable the child to make and interpret new experiences.

Disequilibrium is a fundamental part of learning.

• Our educators allow mistakes and “failure” to happen.

Children are interested in ideas and concepts worthy of consideraton.

• Our educators serve as co-researchers responding to the children's interests.

Emotional intelligences are powerful learning influences.

• Our educators create a culture of acceptance that supports individuality and cognitive development.

Children must experience meaningful relationships with peers, teachers and the environment.

• We support this by small classes and low teacher to child ratios.

Mixed-age classes are beneficial to children.

• We offer family groupings (mixed-age classes of 3s/4s and 4s/5s) that allow children to experiece being a mentee and mentor.