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Preschool

“Play is crucial, serving as a key component of an environment that nurtures the whole child.”

Two schools exist in the preschool program.

Children 2-1/2 to 4 can be enrolled in the Blue School. The adult/child ratio is 1:7. Blue School children who return to the IPCDC after summer break will either be enrolled for another semester or two in the Blue School or change to the Purple School.

Children who are age 3.5 to 5 can be enrolled in the Purple School. The adult/child ratio is 1:8. Requests to enroll children for a second year in the purple school when they are age eligible for kindergarten may be enrolled only after children who transfer from the blue school, and, if needed, after subsidy slots are filled. Enrollment priorities apply. Another consideration for placement will be the developmental needs of the child.

Mixed age grouping is simply where children are grouped in mixed ages rather than the more traditional way of grouping solely by age.

Flexible Schedule

Monday – Thursday

8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Friday

8 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

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Our Rates

Preschoolers

Student
$6.75
Hourly
Faculty
$10.75
Hourly
Alumni / Community
$12.00
Hourly

Blue and Purple Program

The youngest developmental children will be in the Blue School and the oldest developmental children will be in the Purple School. Children in the middle will be enrolled in either school depending on availability of space, age and readiness.

There are several reasons why we do this. With a facility designed such as ours, and children attending on an individualized flexible schedule, it allows us to serve more families while enrolling to capacity without over or under- enrolling.

By providing an environment where the ages are slightly age-mixed, this model also has great potential to support children’s social and emotional learning. By observing and interacting with children of different ages and abilities, they can learn from others in ways that may not be possible if they were same-age grouped.

Children who are older can take on supportive roles and practice leadership skills and prosocial behaviors, like helping others, while at the same time building empathy and acceptance of different abilities, thoughts and feelings. Younger children have the opportunity to observe and play with slightly older children and can develop more complex language, types of play, and problem solving abilities.

In addition, the mixed age model has the benefit of muddying age-based comparisons because there is naturally a wide range of skills and abilities within any group of children no matter how they are grouped. Most importantly, children are never