preschool
St. James’ Preschool, a division of St. James’ Episcopal School, is a ministry of St. James’ Episcopal Church. Since 1998, St. James’ Preschool has provided a safe and stimulating environment for children ages two and a half through five to learn through play.
Our approach to early education is based on the fundamental principles of healthy social, emotional, and intellectual development of children. This developmental approach to education is critical to the success of our program.
St. James’ Preschool honors each child’s unique individuality, and helps to foster a strong sense of self through an inventive curriculum. This curriculum is designed to encourage children to become active, engaged and interested in all of their activities. Our highly qualified staff provides a safe, and stimulating environment in which each child’s voice is heard and respected.
St. James’ Preschool hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, excluding holidays and breaks. The current school is located within walking distance from St. James’ Elementary School campus in the city of Los Angeles.
Opening in Fall 2012 will be our brand new preschool and Jr. Kindergarten campus which is located one block from the main elementary campus on Gramercy Place. Click here for more information.
philosophy
At St. James’ Preschool, we believe that preschool is where children form their first impressions of the world around them. It is in our playgrounds and classrooms where our attitudes toward conflict resolution, community, and a sense of our place in society are primarily developed.
We believe these first impressions are lasting, and therefore vital to the moral and social integrity of each child. Each moment has the potential for human growth and character development, and St. James’ Preschool understands the importance of our role in this stage of the child’s life.
Play is an essential skill for children to learn. Through the activity of playing, children explore their world, find out how to get along with others, test their skills and muscles, explore new ideas, and build confidence and self-esteem. Curiosity, self-esteem, language, problem solving, mathematics, cooperation, and endurance are just a few of the many benefits of learning through play. The activity of playing is an integral part of learning at this stage of development, and is an invaluable tool to prepare children for the future.
St. James’ Preschool uses play activities to foster child development and character building.
curriculum
We believe that a sound curriculum includes empowering children to feel good about themselves, think for themselves, to have integrity and a sense of their own imaginative power.
Our age-appropriate activities are designed for children to be initiators and for teachers to support them in a process where learning is fun without rigidly defined limits. Early literacy, math awareness, science, block building, cooking, dramatic play, social studies (through anti-bias curriculum), moral education, art, music, and yoga are all incorporated in the every day life of the preschool so that each child will be ready for the inevitable transition to kindergarten. Because each child is an individual with different needs and is unique in his own way, our curriculum is thoughtfully planned, challenging, engaging, developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive, comprehensive, and likely to promote positive outcomes for all children.
Our classroom environment actively encourages kindness, compassion, racial and cultural diversity and creates a community of learners with strong academic potential.
Katarina Matolek
Preschool Director
(213) 738-7871
kmatolek@sjsla.org
