The 5th building is framed!
At this point all of the buildings are framed. Three of them have electric and heating and air conditioning meaning that they are nearly ready for the drywall to be installed. We are making great progress and are on track to be open on time.
This week we are pleased to announce that we are ADDING ONE YEAR OLDS TO THE HALF-DAY PROGRAM. If you are interested in enrolling your one year old please contact Mary Swanson at mary@thelittleschool.net.
We want to thank Judith Gadd, our wonderful webmaster and faithful site photographer for the new pictures that she added this week. They are great and for those of you who have not yet walked the site, it is your first look inside of the school.
See photo slide show below the posts.
Our whole team visited the buildings for their first tour on Monday and we must tell you that it was VERY exciting for us to see their responses.
GLIMPSE: This week we really have an announcement. We will be taking a walking tour of the new campus immediately following the open house on December 5th. We hope that you will all be able to join us. Please let us know by RSVP'ing to christaniven@thelittleschool.net
Showing posts with label Half Day Program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Half Day Program. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
We Are Getting Very Close!
Hello Everyone,
We are getting very close. I realize that the site may not look like it is nearly ready, but it really is. We want to give you an update on our progress and our plans. This is intended to be a starting point. Many of our details are still unclear. We commit to you now that we will keep you updated as we move through the process. The Waterstone Blog will continue to be our primary means of communication, but you can also reach us by email with specific questions.
Here is a brief contact list:
Issues relating to:
Christa Niven, Director- christaniven@thelittleschool.net
The building and new campus
Finances
Donations
Partnership or investment opportunities
Secondary contact for hiring
Oversight of policy and procedure creation
Oversight of staff recruiting
Marketing
Volunteer organization
Jennifer Dock, Director- jennifer@thelittleschool.net
The building and new campus
Curriculum development and implementation
Portfolio development and implementation
Oversight of staff development and training
Classroom compilations
Marketing
Wendy Vavrousek, Program Manager- wendy@thelittleschool.net
Staff development and training
Staff management
Curricular implementation
Special services creation and implementation
Joann Milano, Human Resources Manager- joann@thelittleschool.net
Staff recruiting and screening
Policy and procedure creation
Staff orientation
Mary Swanson, Admission Manager- mary@thelittleschool.net
Enrollment of new families
Collection and organization of admission materials
Primary contact for new families
If there are any questions or concerns that are not obviously captured by the above descriptions please email Christa at christaniven@thelittleschool.net
Here is an incomplete list of Frequently Asked Questions that we hope to use as a starting point for our transition conversation. Please know that we welcome any and all questions, but do ask that you read through these first.
1. When is the school going to open?
Our site superintendent has told us that we are moving along at exactly the predicted pace for this point in the project. We are going to begin to landscape and paint in October. The site work required for our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy includes asphalt and gravel for the driveway. Those pieces have been ordered and should be done in the coming weeks. As long as we stay on track we will have the building ready to apply for final Certificate of Occupancy on December 1. We are estimating that we will need two weeks to move all of the materials into place before we are ready to ask our day care licensing person to license us to open. REMEMBER- EVERY TOY AND BLOCK MUST BE IN PLACE BEFORE WE WILL RECEIVE DAY CARE LICENSING PERMISSION TO OPEN. It is not the case that we can paint the walls and open the doors. Any and all help will be most welcome once we arrive at moving weekend.
2. Have you hired all of the new teachers yet?
We are very actively hiring teachers right now. Our current staff of fifteen will be spread throughout the building so that one of our current teachers will (most likely) be in each of our eleven new classrooms. We are receiving incredible resumes and are beginning to make final hiring decisions. This economy has provided us a truly top notch pool to choose from. Please see the August 7, 2009 Waterstone Blog Glimpse for more information about our hiring process.
Mr. Sean and Ms. Rachel will be staying on in the half-day program and will be working closely with the other teachers hired for the half-day program.
3. When will you finalize all of the hiring?
We will have all of the staff hired by November 1, 2009.
4. How will the teams be configured?
We will be bringing the staff together for a series of team meetings in November. We will be spending time getting to know each other in order to find the best fit. The great news is that all of our candidates (without exception) are very well educated and trained folks with great prior experience so we have some flexibility in allowing teams to come together based on personality AS WELL AS best age group fit.
5. Who will my child's teacher be?
The honest answer is that we do not know this yet. We won't know how the children will be placed into groups until two things happen:
1. All of the children need to be enrolled- we still have a limited number of openings available in all enrollment categories (full-day, half-day, full-week, part-week).
2. All of the teaching teams have to be configured. Once we have completed both of the tasks we will look at each child individually in order to find the best classroom AND teacher fit.
6. Will my currently enrolled child stay with their current teachers?
The current teaching teams will be broken up as the assistant and co-teachers take on lead and co positions. We will do EVERYTHING possible to keep our current children with at least one of their teachers. We understand that the parents want this as much as the teachers do. We are starting to shed some tears around TLS over the changes to come. While that is true, we are very much looking forward to inviting our new staff and children to join us. There will be lots of opportunities for children t continue to visit with their prior teams but every effort will be made to keep children and current teachers together whenever possible.
7. What is going on with the half-day program?
The half-day program is off to a great start. The children are adorable and we love having them with us. The classrooms are small, but so is the group size and the teachers are visiting the full-day classrooms and all of the playgrounds every day. This is a temporary solution that we think has been a tremendous success thus far.
We will move the half-day children into the full-day classrooms as soon as the Waterstone Campus opens. The broad age groupings currently in place will be spread a little as we move into the new classrooms. Those groupings will also be decided after we have completed enrollment and hiring.
8. Is there anything that I can do to help?
Yes, we have many upcoming events that will require a whole lot of help.
October: We will be spending most weekends at the new school installing our landscaping.
November: We will be painting and installing hardware, moving materials from the storage lockers to the new campus, assembling IKEA chairs and book shelves, and preparing the playgrounds. We have had several of our parent-artists volunteer to help us sand and refinish tables and chests as well as add the creative details that will make our building feel like our school. There is an awful lot to do so if you have an idea or a specific creative skill and would like to help please contact Christa to volunteer.
December: We will be putting materials on shelves and assembling centers in all of the classrooms. This will be a HUGE project and all forms of assistance will be more than greatly appreciated.
9. Will there be time for my child to meet their teachers prior to the first day?
Please see the Open House Invitation on the school website at http://www.thelittleschool.net/. We are very aware that we are going to be incredibly busy and pressed for time in December. While that is true, it is very important for us to provide opportunities to have the children see their new space. We will be working to provide additional opportunities. Please watch the blog.
We are getting very close. I realize that the site may not look like it is nearly ready, but it really is. We want to give you an update on our progress and our plans. This is intended to be a starting point. Many of our details are still unclear. We commit to you now that we will keep you updated as we move through the process. The Waterstone Blog will continue to be our primary means of communication, but you can also reach us by email with specific questions.
Here is a brief contact list:
Issues relating to:
Christa Niven, Director- christaniven@thelittleschool.net
The building and new campus
Finances
Donations
Partnership or investment opportunities
Secondary contact for hiring
Oversight of policy and procedure creation
Oversight of staff recruiting
Marketing
Volunteer organization
Jennifer Dock, Director- jennifer@thelittleschool.net
The building and new campus
Curriculum development and implementation
Portfolio development and implementation
Oversight of staff development and training
Classroom compilations
Marketing
Wendy Vavrousek, Program Manager- wendy@thelittleschool.net
Staff development and training
Staff management
Curricular implementation
Special services creation and implementation
Joann Milano, Human Resources Manager- joann@thelittleschool.net
Staff recruiting and screening
Policy and procedure creation
Staff orientation
Mary Swanson, Admission Manager- mary@thelittleschool.net
Enrollment of new families
Collection and organization of admission materials
Primary contact for new families
If there are any questions or concerns that are not obviously captured by the above descriptions please email Christa at christaniven@thelittleschool.net
Here is an incomplete list of Frequently Asked Questions that we hope to use as a starting point for our transition conversation. Please know that we welcome any and all questions, but do ask that you read through these first.
1. When is the school going to open?
Our site superintendent has told us that we are moving along at exactly the predicted pace for this point in the project. We are going to begin to landscape and paint in October. The site work required for our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy includes asphalt and gravel for the driveway. Those pieces have been ordered and should be done in the coming weeks. As long as we stay on track we will have the building ready to apply for final Certificate of Occupancy on December 1. We are estimating that we will need two weeks to move all of the materials into place before we are ready to ask our day care licensing person to license us to open. REMEMBER- EVERY TOY AND BLOCK MUST BE IN PLACE BEFORE WE WILL RECEIVE DAY CARE LICENSING PERMISSION TO OPEN. It is not the case that we can paint the walls and open the doors. Any and all help will be most welcome once we arrive at moving weekend.
2. Have you hired all of the new teachers yet?
We are very actively hiring teachers right now. Our current staff of fifteen will be spread throughout the building so that one of our current teachers will (most likely) be in each of our eleven new classrooms. We are receiving incredible resumes and are beginning to make final hiring decisions. This economy has provided us a truly top notch pool to choose from. Please see the August 7, 2009 Waterstone Blog Glimpse for more information about our hiring process.
Mr. Sean and Ms. Rachel will be staying on in the half-day program and will be working closely with the other teachers hired for the half-day program.
3. When will you finalize all of the hiring?
We will have all of the staff hired by November 1, 2009.
4. How will the teams be configured?
We will be bringing the staff together for a series of team meetings in November. We will be spending time getting to know each other in order to find the best fit. The great news is that all of our candidates (without exception) are very well educated and trained folks with great prior experience so we have some flexibility in allowing teams to come together based on personality AS WELL AS best age group fit.
5. Who will my child's teacher be?
The honest answer is that we do not know this yet. We won't know how the children will be placed into groups until two things happen:
1. All of the children need to be enrolled- we still have a limited number of openings available in all enrollment categories (full-day, half-day, full-week, part-week).
2. All of the teaching teams have to be configured. Once we have completed both of the tasks we will look at each child individually in order to find the best classroom AND teacher fit.
6. Will my currently enrolled child stay with their current teachers?
The current teaching teams will be broken up as the assistant and co-teachers take on lead and co positions. We will do EVERYTHING possible to keep our current children with at least one of their teachers. We understand that the parents want this as much as the teachers do. We are starting to shed some tears around TLS over the changes to come. While that is true, we are very much looking forward to inviting our new staff and children to join us. There will be lots of opportunities for children t continue to visit with their prior teams but every effort will be made to keep children and current teachers together whenever possible.
7. What is going on with the half-day program?
The half-day program is off to a great start. The children are adorable and we love having them with us. The classrooms are small, but so is the group size and the teachers are visiting the full-day classrooms and all of the playgrounds every day. This is a temporary solution that we think has been a tremendous success thus far.
We will move the half-day children into the full-day classrooms as soon as the Waterstone Campus opens. The broad age groupings currently in place will be spread a little as we move into the new classrooms. Those groupings will also be decided after we have completed enrollment and hiring.
8. Is there anything that I can do to help?
Yes, we have many upcoming events that will require a whole lot of help.
October: We will be spending most weekends at the new school installing our landscaping.
November: We will be painting and installing hardware, moving materials from the storage lockers to the new campus, assembling IKEA chairs and book shelves, and preparing the playgrounds. We have had several of our parent-artists volunteer to help us sand and refinish tables and chests as well as add the creative details that will make our building feel like our school. There is an awful lot to do so if you have an idea or a specific creative skill and would like to help please contact Christa to volunteer.
December: We will be putting materials on shelves and assembling centers in all of the classrooms. This will be a HUGE project and all forms of assistance will be more than greatly appreciated.
9. Will there be time for my child to meet their teachers prior to the first day?
Please see the Open House Invitation on the school website at http://www.thelittleschool.net/. We are very aware that we are going to be incredibly busy and pressed for time in December. While that is true, it is very important for us to provide opportunities to have the children see their new space. We will be working to provide additional opportunities. Please watch the blog.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Mid-Week Blog
As you can see in the photos, we now have walls and a roof. The second building will begin framing tomorrow.
This is very, very exciting.
That is not why we are writing though.
We are writing to tell you about the half-day program classroom progress. Here it is: THE CLASSROOMS ARE SO CUTE. Not a little cute. They are REALLY cute. We have been collecting so many materials that we really have three of everything to choose from. The cutest of the cute are going into these rooms and they are just sweet. The pictures that we have included are just snapshots of spaces. The rooms will be completely finished and ready to be seen by Monday's open house. PLEASE come on in to meet Mr. Sean and Ms. Rachel. They are working so hard to be ready for the arrival of the new children. In fact, the whole school is truly buzzing with excitement. We are expectant as we await their arrival.
To all of you new Half-Dayers: Know that we cannot wait to see you next week!
Christa Niven
Sunday, August 23, 2009
WALLS!!!!
We have walls! We are so excited that we cannot even express it in words. Please PLEASE drive by and see the progress of the week.
There are LIMITED spaces available in the half-day program for September. Please contact us ASAP to enroll. We will write a mid-week blog on Wednesday with photos of the new rooms. You are also welcome to stop by to see them yourself. They are ADORABLE and we are very excited to see how Rachel and Sean put them together next week.
Glimpse: We want to use this glimpse to share with you our gratitude for the tremendous generosity of our community. We have been receiving many, many donations of toys and interesting pieces of furniture for many months now. One family in particular (they have asked to remain unnamed) has gone above and beyond and we are just so thankful. To those of you asking about where to leave donations, we are very happy and thankful for any of the following items:
1. Outgrown toys.
2. Children's or parenting books.
3. Unique or interesting pieces of furniture big or small- those pieces are what make our program's appearance charming.
4. Kitchen equipment and pots, pans, baking dishes, utensils, etc.
5. Interesting window coverings.
The truth is that we will accept just about any donation and find something wonderful to do with it. As you know, we like to take unusual items and find strange places for them. We are just so thankful that so many of you are thinking of us and helping us to get ready for our opening.
At this point we are still being told that our time line has not changed and that they are hoping for a November certificate of occupancy with a worst case scenario of December 13th. The great news is that we can open the buildings one at a time and we will do exactly that starting with the big classroom building provided that nothing changes the order of building completion. We are truly confident in this time line.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Gas? Or no Gas?
The question of the week has been Gas? Or no Gas? It has been very interesting to be present as the question of whether or not we have gas appliances and fixtures has unfolded throughout the week. The question is complex as it would seem that there are lots of pros and cons. Some of them impact our costs. Some of them impact the environment. As the conversation continued it became evident that the two perspectives would clash at several intersections and we needed to make decisions that were in the best interest of the environment WHENEVER we could afford to.
We wish that we could fast-forward our project a decade when environmentally responsible materials will be the most cost-effective to build with. In 2009 the truth is that it is VERY expensive to build a green building- sometimes ten times the cost of less eco-friendly materials.
Our answer to the builders is not all that helpful. Our answer is "Use the most eco-friendly materials that we can afford every time." It is a true shame that that is the best that we can do. The water lines were installed this week. The concrete is ready to pour and we are just waiting for dry enough weather to pour it. As soon as the concrete is finished the walls will go up. We should see the framing begin in the next week or two depending upon the weather.
We still have no new news about an opening date. We asked this week and were told that they have until December but still expect to be finished before that deadline. Weather delays are certainly not helpful at this stage. Once the walls and roofs are on we will be able to work every day regardless of the weather. We need a stretch of dry days to get there though. As we write this we are watching the sky growing darker and darker...
Glimpse: The half-day program is going to open on September 1, 2009.
We have secured the use of two classrooms at the Hillsborough United Church of Christ where our Infant Program is currently housed. The classrooms will be run in exactly the same manner as our current Middler and Preschool Rooms. We are very pleased to announce that our beloved Mr. Sean will be heading the new program and will teach the older of the two classrooms to get the program started. The other classroom will be led by Rachel Bachenheimer, currently the director of the Child Care Services Association Child Care Program. Rachel is a former Carolina Friends School, Durham Early School teacher, and CCSA technical assistant. We are thrilled to have them both as a part of our inaugural half-day classrooms.
We wish that we could fast-forward our project a decade when environmentally responsible materials will be the most cost-effective to build with. In 2009 the truth is that it is VERY expensive to build a green building- sometimes ten times the cost of less eco-friendly materials.
Our answer to the builders is not all that helpful. Our answer is "Use the most eco-friendly materials that we can afford every time." It is a true shame that that is the best that we can do. The water lines were installed this week. The concrete is ready to pour and we are just waiting for dry enough weather to pour it. As soon as the concrete is finished the walls will go up. We should see the framing begin in the next week or two depending upon the weather.
We still have no new news about an opening date. We asked this week and were told that they have until December but still expect to be finished before that deadline. Weather delays are certainly not helpful at this stage. Once the walls and roofs are on we will be able to work every day regardless of the weather. We need a stretch of dry days to get there though. As we write this we are watching the sky growing darker and darker...
Glimpse: The half-day program is going to open on September 1, 2009.
We have secured the use of two classrooms at the Hillsborough United Church of Christ where our Infant Program is currently housed. The classrooms will be run in exactly the same manner as our current Middler and Preschool Rooms. We are very pleased to announce that our beloved Mr. Sean will be heading the new program and will teach the older of the two classrooms to get the program started. The other classroom will be led by Rachel Bachenheimer, currently the director of the Child Care Services Association Child Care Program. Rachel is a former Carolina Friends School, Durham Early School teacher, and CCSA technical assistant. We are thrilled to have them both as a part of our inaugural half-day classrooms.
