Little School to get a whole lot bigger

Hillsborough child development center to build new campus
interested? The Little School's new campus opens Jan. 4, 2010, in the Hillsborough Waterstone Neighborhood. To apply as a student and as an employee visit the Web site:
http://www.thelittleschool.net/

by Erin Wiltgen
chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035

HILLSBOROUGH -- The Little School is growing up.

A child development center in Hillsborough, the Little School has finally outgrown its current building and will build a new campus in the Hillsborough Waterstone Neighborhood.

"We are just dying to grow," said Jennifer Dock, co-founder of the Little School. "If you're going to do it, you might as well just really do it. And that's how it started. It was a push from our families who really needed the care."

The Little School serves infants through preschoolers, including children with autism and other sensory integration issues. A Duke Partnership for Excellence in Childcare Grant Recipient from 2005 to 2008, the Little School focuses on a challenging, creative, nurturing and child-centered education program. Parents travel from Chapel Hill, Durham and even Burlington to give their children this hands-on, multi-sensory experience.

"We are aware that there are daycare centers that are safe and appropriate and the children are well cared for and loved," said Christa Niven, co-founder of the school. "But our intention is not to be a day care center. We are very much a school."

As complex and established as the Little School has become, it began merely as the festering of complaints between neighbors.

When Niven moved across the street from Dock, Niven's youngest child became fast playmates with Dock's youngest. The two women began taking daily walks together, and soon their shared frustrations in finding a preschool for their children dominated their conversation.

"We were very frustrated with how little high quality care was available," Niven said.

When the idea actually formed is hard to say, the women admitted, but in 2005 the Little School opened its doors to three classroom housing 40 kids.

Now the school hosts 58 children every day, 70 including twelve half-day classrooms.

With popularity growing, Niven said the school has been unable to adequately fill the rising need for quality child care. Some parents have been on the Little School's waiting list for two years.

Expansion was in the offing.

The new campus, set to open on Jan. 4, 2010, boasts 14,500 square feet as opposed to the current building's 2,500 square feet and will hold about 160 students. The current building will convert into a half-day campus, with both campuses still offering part-week options. Dock said the school is accepting student applications as well as staff applications for 2010 on the school's Web site.

Although the campus covers more area, Dock and Niven said they didn't want children to feel overwhelmed by a huge building. Instead, the new school actually comprises five smaller buildings centered around a courtyard.

Following this theory, each classroom includes a child-sized quiet spot built into the construction of the school. It's a 4-foot deep, 4-foot tall jut-out in each classroom which will sit side-by-side with the jut-out from the adjacent classroom. Each cubby hole will have a window into its neighbor so kids seeking quiet time can see each other.

"I'm hoping that will inject community into the quiet space," Niven said. "They're really fun. They're really cute."

As its construction suggests, the new building won't lose the homey, cozy one-on-one feel the school's name promises. Niven said she and Dock wanted the name to emphasize the atmosphere of the school: a soft, homey feel. Each classroom is home-furnished with walls painted soft colors and lights that can dim.

"We want to convey the message that we're not a center, we're not a large industrialized center," Dock said. "We want kids to not feel like they're one in a thousand."

With quiet-time cubby holes and separate buildings, Dock and Niven said they hope the new school carries over the same at-home feel as the old one.

"We wanted it to feel like a little place," Niven said. "It's the little school. That's just who we are."