Preschool | The Batt School

Preschool

Our primary focus during these early years of your child’s development is to honor his/her academic potential by providing opportunities to teach the fundamentals of reading and mathematics while encouraging independence, self-determination, and confidence. We know, above all else, that play is the best way to achieve these goals. We are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for during this time of great learning.

The School

We provide a warm and inviting environment, where students can become comfortable and feel confident experimenting with new concepts. Our program emphasizes developing the intrinsic motivation of our youngest students to build inquisitive and highly engaged learners. Our highly curated play centers are filled with stimulating activities that are integrated with our curriculum units. These activities are rotated as our curriculum changes.

We focus on the following themes:

Practical: Our goal is to teach your child about him/herself by developing awareness for their self care as well as for their environment. The children are encouraged to play an active role in the ordering and upkeep of the classroom in order to develop good habits of cooperation and organization. We also provide ample opportunities for physical movement to encourage coordination and gross motor development. By implementing a standard of personal responsibility, we are setting our children up for independence and self-discipline.

Social: As our youngest students are just learning the social and behavioral expectations we will uphold, it is imperative that they feel secure in themselves and their abilities because this personal agency will translate well into increased social cooperation. Our mission at the Batt School is to create a loving and nurturing environment where each child feels accepted and supported, so that our students will interact in the same warm and compassionate way with others. This builds the bedrock of inspiring and effective leaders later in life, because to lead is to relate, and then to inspire.

Emotional: At the Batt School, we focus on the comprehensive development of the whole student. Learning to express emotions, develop empathy, and show compassion for ourselves and others are the main tenants of the emotional foundation of each child. Our teachers are highly trained in differential attention techniques, and your child’s emotional wellness is paramount to our teaching philosophy.

Language: This is a time of incredible communication development. Through a number of multi-sensory activities, we immerse your child in an environment that encourages early literacy development. The students will be introduced to letters and phonemes in playful, interactive lessons. In a loving and nurturing environment, students develop into emergent readers by becoming comfortable with the mechanics of the English language through rhyming, storytelling and songs.

Science: STEAM education is an integral part of our program. Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics are not taught in isolation, but as a part of an integrated curriculum to maximize exploration and learning. STEAM investigations encourage curiosity and build on the children’s prior knowledge and interests.

Mathematical Concepts: As we prepare your students to be lifelong academic thinkers and learners, we introduce the foundations to mathematical concepts they will use for the rest of their schooling. This is done in a fun and interactive way. We focus less on rote memorization and more on kinetic forms of learning the material.

Global Focus: We introduce local themes of ecology, geology, and people’s history. The children will be given activities that inspire them to think about the environment and world around them. We will also profile and celebrate the lives of important thinkers and doers in our society.

Spanish: At the Batt School, we incorporate the most innovative and high-quality research on education. That is why we emphasis the importance of introducing second languages early. The effects of bilingualism on the elasticity of the brain and high academic potential are well-proven, and having the ability to communicate in a second language is paramount in our society and part of our mission to develop globally-minded citizens.

The Arts: Our core mission is to develop independent and curious lifelong learners who are kind and globally-minded leaders. We believe an education steeped in the arts best supports this goal. We encourage all of our students to develop the focus and reflection developed within artistic enrichment.