Though the new Waterstone campus of the Little School is not yet finished, the directors have some big ideas for what will go on there. The reason for the new campus is simple, Christa Niven and Jennifer Dock, the directors, owners and founders of the school, said: The waiting list for those who wanted to join the school is about 200 names long.
The new campus will open for the public Jan. 4, with both full- and half-day programs. A half-day program will continue at their current location, 200 Davis Road. The $3 million project will allow the school to expand from a staff of 14 to one of 50 with 17 classrooms.
Niven and Dock said they originally opened the Little School because of a lack of available, high-quality, part-time childcare for their own children. The Little School helped fill a void in their own lives, they said, and was clearly needed in the area.
Niven and Dock have a policy of serving every child they can safely serve; they will not refuse a child entry because he or she has special needs. “It’s not yes or no,” Dock said. “It’s how.”
Dock said since the very beginning, they have served children with autism, whom she said have the same needs as their typically developing peers: social and verbal skills, among them. Allowing children with special needs to be in a classroom with typically developing students helps them learn appropriate behavior from the best source: their peers.
“When we support a child with special needs, we support the community as a whole,” Niven said. And being a part of the community at large — and forming their own community of administrators, teachers, students and parents — is something that’s vital to Niven and Dock. Niven said they purposely wanted to create a lot of outdoor space at the new campus, which is located next to Durham Technical Community College’s Orange County Campus.
Dock agreed, saying all the buildings have porches, which do double duty: They encourage students and teachers to enjoy the outdoors and they foster a sense of community. The large common courtyard — which they said they hope to use for Friday night events where all are welcome — helps build that as well.
“The porches are really awesome for us because we wanted it to feel like Hillsborough, and Hillsborough is front porches and outdoor chairs,” Niven said.
The two women and mothers said they wanted their school to have a cozy feel to it, to be as unlike traditional daycares — with their bright primary colors and a sometimes-institutional feeling — as possible. Niven said the Little School is many things, but it is not a daycare; instead, she called it “a good, community-based school.”
That comfortable, but non-traditional feeling extends even to mealtime, which Niven said was served family-style and cooked with ingredients from a local farm by a chef from “someplace fabulous” that must remain a secret.
The plan is to give students food that adults would be willing to eat, Dock said, and allow them to try new things.
Teachers, too, eat what the students are eating. “The kids don’t sit around looking at their plate of beans while their teacher is eating McDonald’s,” Niven said. “We don’t allow that.”
The unconventional feel of the school continues into the classrooms, which are outfitted with small, child-size nooks that allow children to take a break from the hub-hub of the school and have a bit of quiet time. Still, since community is emphasized at the Little School, Niven and Dock had windows placed in the “pushouts,” which see outside and into the pushout in the classroom next door. Niven said that was her favorite part of the new campus. “We just wanted it to feel like this space is for children,” Dock said.
One large area is divided by a half-wall, making two more open classrooms with a shared diaper changing station, which Dock said gives teachers flexibility. They also employ three teachers per classroom, instead of the traditional two, which allows instructors to focus on teaching their students.
Still, even though they are expanding and changing, Niven and Dock said they hope to keep some things the same.
“Our driving force is to keep the soul of what we started here,” Dock said. “We will be successful if we can keep it feeling little.”
Comments? Send them via e-mail: v.shortley@newsoforange.com.
The new campus will open for the public Jan. 4, with both full- and half-day programs. A half-day program will continue at their current location, 200 Davis Road. The $3 million project will allow the school to expand from a staff of 14 to one of 50 with 17 classrooms.
Niven and Dock said they originally opened the Little School because of a lack of available, high-quality, part-time childcare for their own children. The Little School helped fill a void in their own lives, they said, and was clearly needed in the area.
Niven and Dock have a policy of serving every child they can safely serve; they will not refuse a child entry because he or she has special needs. “It’s not yes or no,” Dock said. “It’s how.”
Dock said since the very beginning, they have served children with autism, whom she said have the same needs as their typically developing peers: social and verbal skills, among them. Allowing children with special needs to be in a classroom with typically developing students helps them learn appropriate behavior from the best source: their peers.
“When we support a child with special needs, we support the community as a whole,” Niven said. And being a part of the community at large — and forming their own community of administrators, teachers, students and parents — is something that’s vital to Niven and Dock. Niven said they purposely wanted to create a lot of outdoor space at the new campus, which is located next to Durham Technical Community College’s Orange County Campus.
Dock agreed, saying all the buildings have porches, which do double duty: They encourage students and teachers to enjoy the outdoors and they foster a sense of community. The large common courtyard — which they said they hope to use for Friday night events where all are welcome — helps build that as well.
“The porches are really awesome for us because we wanted it to feel like Hillsborough, and Hillsborough is front porches and outdoor chairs,” Niven said.
The two women and mothers said they wanted their school to have a cozy feel to it, to be as unlike traditional daycares — with their bright primary colors and a sometimes-institutional feeling — as possible. Niven said the Little School is many things, but it is not a daycare; instead, she called it “a good, community-based school.”
That comfortable, but non-traditional feeling extends even to mealtime, which Niven said was served family-style and cooked with ingredients from a local farm by a chef from “someplace fabulous” that must remain a secret.
The plan is to give students food that adults would be willing to eat, Dock said, and allow them to try new things.
Teachers, too, eat what the students are eating. “The kids don’t sit around looking at their plate of beans while their teacher is eating McDonald’s,” Niven said. “We don’t allow that.”
The unconventional feel of the school continues into the classrooms, which are outfitted with small, child-size nooks that allow children to take a break from the hub-hub of the school and have a bit of quiet time. Still, since community is emphasized at the Little School, Niven and Dock had windows placed in the “pushouts,” which see outside and into the pushout in the classroom next door. Niven said that was her favorite part of the new campus. “We just wanted it to feel like this space is for children,” Dock said.
One large area is divided by a half-wall, making two more open classrooms with a shared diaper changing station, which Dock said gives teachers flexibility. They also employ three teachers per classroom, instead of the traditional two, which allows instructors to focus on teaching their students.
Still, even though they are expanding and changing, Niven and Dock said they hope to keep some things the same.
“Our driving force is to keep the soul of what we started here,” Dock said. “We will be successful if we can keep it feeling little.”
Comments? Send them via e-mail: v.shortley@newsoforange.com.
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