All Saints’ Episcopal Preschool is a ministry of All Saints’ Episcopal Church. Our mission is to provide a positive, nurturing, Christ-centered environment using developmentally appropriate activities to encourage each child to reach his or her full potential.

All Saints’ Preschool is a vibrant Christian community. Our teachers actively look for ways to reflect on God’s goodness throughout the day. Chapel services with stories that demonstrate God’s love, prayers, and song are held weekly for students age three and older. Children enrolled in the three, four, and five years old program are offered Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which is a Montessori based program that tells stories of God’s love. Through the use of concrete materials children explore the meaning of Bible stories in their lives. Trained volunteers from All Saints’ Episcopal Children’s Ministry work with these children weekly.

Parents are a welcome part of our preschool family and are encouraged to visit and observe at any time. Parents are also encouraged to become involved with our Parent Group, which supports our school through several annual events and regular volunteer activities.

Important dates:

• January 16 – Preschool Closed for MLK Day
• January 17 – 20 Mid-year progress reports and conferences
• January 26 – Registration forms are online or may be picked up in the
  preschool office
• January 30 – 9:00 am Registration forms from currently enrolled children for
  Fall 2012 may be turned in at the preschool office. February 2 and 3 are the
  days for parishioners to enroll.
• February 6 – 9:00 am Registration opens to the community.
• March 1 – Summer Registration begins

Summer Programs

Summer programs are offered for children from 12 months to 6 years in age. Enrollment for summer programs is in April of each year. Enrollment for the fall is in January of each year.

Philosophy of education

The role of the family is of primary importance in influencing the development of young children. We seek to protect and enhance this role through support and encouragement of the family and through family involvement in our program.

All Saints’ teachers view the child as strong and competent. The environment is warm, safe, and joyful. We believe that parents and educators have the responsibility to provide the child with an environment that enables preschool development, builds problem-solving skills, and fosters wise choices.

During the preschool years, children learn from appropriately modeled behavior and from concrete experiences. Children learn through play and active exploration, not through drills, rote memorization, or workbooks. Our preschool uses the WEE Learning Curriculum and Zaner-Bloser to help the teachers to organize developmentally appropriate classroom experiences for children ages three months through four years.

Goals

In addition to stimulating cognitive problem solving, creative expression and the development of strong basic language and literacy skills, our goals include:

• Fostering communication among children, teachers and parents.
• Supporting the development of social skills such as empathy, sharing, cooperation, and generosity.
• Using an integrated approach to learning that meets the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical needs of the children.
• Developing safe and healthy habits with an emphasis on hygiene, nutrition, exercise and physical care.
• Encouraging multi-generational interaction by inviting families and volunteers to be involved in the program.

For more information about our preschool program, including schedules, fees, and class information please contact Bebe Hardin, Director, (205) 879-2943, bhardin@allsaintsbirmingham.org.