Early Childhood Philosophy

Early childhood educators, like parents, are mediators of learning. By creating a stimulating environment, asking relevant questions, encouraging children to discover new things, and carefully selecting centers which enable children to move about their rooms and try out new things, children learn to adjust and organize themselves, to analyze and interpret information and become thinking little people, ready to ask their own questions and able to understand progressively more complex information. 

Research has shown that intergenerational learning benefits both older and younger learners. At Addlestone we take advantage of having older children around us. We invite them to our classrooms to share special events and they have us join them in activities that are relevant to us. We also like to visit the Sherman House, a home for seniors on our campus, and share our songs and festivities with our older friends.

Our school is regulated by the Department of Social Services, DHEC and the city fire inspector.  Our aim is to incorporate the Reggio approach to early childhood education.

This is a method of encouraging children to learn by coming up with their own projects and ideas which we facilitate by consulting the internet and experts in the field. It involves an integration of art and music in the curriculum and the creation of a classroom in which children’s own work is very evident and there is a strong awareness of environmental issues.

We hope to create an even stronger partnership with our parents by introducing more parent education sessions.