Director's Message
Beacon Hill Nursery School was founded in 1955 and has been a vital part of the downtown community since its inception. It has a marvelous history of strong and consistent commitment to high quality early childhood education. BHNS excels at the tangibles--state of the art classrooms, two recently renovated on-site playgrounds (including our wonderful Natural Playscape), a gym, a lunchroom and kitchen, and the highest quality of classroom equipment and supplies. However, much of the magic that is created here is from intangibles--the minds and hearts of an experienced, educated staff and a strongly committed, supportive community--none of which is defined by concrete or plaster.
As early childhood educators, it is an imperative of ours to advocate for young children, to continually “translate” early childhood development into explanations that value the challenges children face and the successes they achieve. Our educational philosophy incorporates the works of Piaget and Vygotsky; our curricula and practice is a rather eclectic treasure of various sources with a strong commitment to the philosophy and practice of Reggio Emilia. However, at the foundation of all that we practice is the very solid commitment to respect each child, as an individual in temperament, interests, and skills. That intense respect coupled with an expertise of child development creates an unrivaled early childhood educational experience.
There is nothing stagnant about early childhood education. Days spent with children never duplicate themselves; children and the dynamics of groups of children are in constant motion—the essential motion of learning life’s intricacies. We speak about the “whole child” and it is this concept that separates us from the rest of the educational profession and from some other practices in early education; our teaching demands that we address social-emotional development, as well as cognitive, physical, and linguistic. Our days are studies of motion and the myriad of responses to—monitoring, intervening, questioning, extending, challenging, recording, but always diligently observing behavior which reflects the developmental stages of children. Ours is an extremely dynamic profession and the science of development is now supporting what the practitioners have observed and known for years—that young children construct knowledge through hands-on experience, that immersion in language(s) at an early age builds a wider base of cognitive structures, that learning styles and strengths are only different, not worse and/or better, and that social-emotional development builds the foundation for self-confidence which in turn is the very foundation of inquisitive, self-motivated, questioning learners who take risks and learn from mistakes. Our goal is to nurture confident, creative, motivated learners who leave our school with the skills and enthusiasm for learning, the processes in place to master any academic content, and the ability to identify as individuals and to function as positive members of a community.
A positive social-emotional atmosphere created by a healthy, supportive community increases the ease with which all learning takes place. We believe that these early years are the windows for learning conflict resolution, strategies of collaboration, problem solving, risk taking, and self-regulation; for young children, the social-emotional arena is a vital part of the foundations they are building. Our goal is for children to emerge from their first school experience confident in themselves, empathetic towards others, respectful of their surroundings, and valuing themselves as positive contributors to their community.
We strive to collaborate with the most important people in children’s lives—their families, their havens. Without a family's confidence and comfort with a child’s experience here, the learning experience is seriously diminished or compromised.
Family involvement is an essential element of our program. Every effort holds a unique value and contributes to the foundation, diversity, and strength of our community.
We view children, families, and staff all as integral parts of our community and rely on participation, communication, and commitment to create the marvelous village that is Beacon Hill Nursery School.
Lucinda Ross, Executive Director
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