Preschool

Vision

The vision of Stone House Preschool at SHPC is to provide a safe, nurturing, Christ-like environment in Upper James City County where preschool children will encounter and experience the love of God.

Mission

The mission of Stone House Preschool is to interact with children and their families in a manner that goes beyond providing childcare, but that also seeks to promote and nurture a young child’s growth and development.

Goals

• To model God’s love for all creation, including teaching children to love themselves and others;
• To teach children fundamental skills including respect for others, kindness, patience, sharing and other Christ-like attitudes;
• To provide high-quality early childhood education which promotes school readiness and prepares children for elementary school success;
• To provide social interaction among children and adults in an environment based in play and other age-appropriate activities;
• And, to give families with young children an opportunity to interact with one another in a welcoming and loving environment.

Click the link below to download the 2019-2020 Registration Form.

Registration Form (will download as a Word Document)

2019-2020 Family Guide (will download as a Word Document)

Stone House Preschool will open on Tuesday, September 3, 2019 and run until Friday, May 29, 2020. We will, in general, follow the Williamsburg -James City County school calendar unless otherwise indicated via our center-based newsletters. Following are all major school breaks and holidays for the 2019-2020 school-year (please hold on to this to reference throughout the year):

HOLIDAYS:

November 5: No School –Parent-Teacher Conferences

November 27-29: No School – Thanksgiving

December 23 – January 3: No School – Winter Break (school resumes 1/6)

January 20: No School – Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

January 27: No School – Teacher Work Day

January 28: No School – Teacher Work Day

February 17: No School – President’s Day Holiday

April 6 – April 10: Spring Break (school resumes 4/13)

May 25: No School – Memorial Day Holiday

Stone House Preschool is a developmentally appropriate program implementing a theme-based curriculum. As should be a part of any excellent program, our curriculum is based on developmental centers that allow a child to do their most important work – play! Developmental centers include the following: math, science, art, blocks, literacy, dramatic play, fine motor, and faith. Young children learn best by exploring the world around them. They acquire knowledge through active play including opportunities to make choices, investigate, perform, manipulate, practice, repeat, transform, and experiment. Further, because reading and literacy is such a fundamental skill, it is critically important that children learn in a print-rich environment. Each day includes structured circle times, centers, gross motor play, snack, faith, read-a-louds, and lots and lots of love. Teachers plan daily lessons according to curricular themes and, based on their daily observations of children, build on each child’s own interests to incorporate activities into their lessons. A prayer is recited before all mealtimes. As the availability of technology grows at SHPS, teachers will use computers, specifically, the internet, to share appropriate videos, read-a-louds, or other activities with children. When this strategy is used, teachers interact directly with the children, facilitating interactions and conversations.

Classes/Ratios:
The preschool is located in the basement of the church. There are four classrooms with bathrooms on each side of the hall between each set of classrooms. The preschool also has an attached playground.
We recognize that our quality of care is directly related to the positive interactions each child has with his/her teacher. In order to promote those interactions and relationships, we maintain the following ratios: