Our playbased preschool serves children 2 1/2 to 5 years of age.
Play-based learning
Children learn through curiosity, creativity, and exploration every day.
Outdoor focus
Students spend time outside daily, building a love for nature and movement.
Family partnership
Parents and caregivers are active partners in their child’s growth and school community.
Curiosity
Community
Creativity
Care
Who we are
Cultivating minds, nurturing hearts, building community.
Heartwood is more than a preschool — it’s a community. We combine the wonder of play with the support of families and the generosity of local philanthropy to ensure every child has access to quality early learning.
We go beyond conventional classroom practices to spark enthusiasm and growth. Expectations are high. Some of our techniques are unusual.
We treat our educators as professionals. We find, hire, and train master educators who show creativity, energy, intelligence, reliability, patience, and kindness.
Our classrooms have no more than 20 children each, supervised by three professionals. In addition our Deans of Program Development, Educational Specialists, Early Intervenists, our Director and Deputy Director float through our classrooms helping out.
Each day we begin our play outside for at least two hours, we then rotate through different rooms throughout the week, allowing the children to experience varied spaces focusing on specific kinds of play and learning. In the company of their familiar teachers and all of their classmates, our students rotate through these spaces over the course of the week.