Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool Values: Children, Families and Community

Our families not only come together to educate their children, but also to build long-term bonds among families in our community.

Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool’s mission seeks to fulfill the supporting roles once fulfilled by grandparents, aunts, and siblings by providing a community where families not only come together to educate their children, but also to build long-term bonds among families in our community. The preschool is the center of this larger family support network, our dedication to our mission and values draws families to the greater co-op community. Our goal is to create a dynamic learning environment that synthesizes the best practices in early childhood education with the talents of a creative professional staff and focuses on integrating family and community into that environment.

Children

• We follow a curriculum that combines the best practices in early childhood education and philosophy.
• Our classroom environment is designed to maximize a child’s independence and to present challenges that contribute to growth and development.
• We utilize a dynamic and developmentally appropriate curriculum that recognizes the importance of play as a vehicle for teaching and learning and can be molded to each child’s individual developmental stage and learning style.
• Our program focuses on the total child, including communication and language skills and cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Each child’s confidence, knowledge of self, and willingness to reach for the next level of mastery are developed through positive and successful experiences.
• We maintain a low teacher to child ratio, a key factor in developing a sense of self and security that is the basis for all learning. Small class size enables teachers to know and plan for an individual child’s skill level and to provide individual guidance through those challenges so children view learning and school as positive experiences.
• We emphasize having a healthy lifestyle and making healthy choices about food, physical fitness, and personal wellness.

Families

• We recognize that children learn best in an environment where they feel secure, and that parents provide the major source of security in their children’s lives.
• We enable parents to actively participate in every aspect of their child’s education, both administratively and in the classroom.
• We work hard to make our school a “home away from home” where the children know and feel comfortable with their school families.

Community

• We understand that the education we provide to our children today directly affects the citizens they become as tomorrow’s adults.
• We choose activities that are mindful of enhancing the community and protecting the environment, that promote good citizenship, and that teach empathy for others.
• We strive for an ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse community that is united in its commitment to parent involvement in our children’s learning, growth, and development.
• We value the environment and are committed to running our preschool in a manner that is mindful of our impact on the environment and our natural resources.