First Pres
Nursery School
We invite families to join us in a collaborative, Reggio-inspired learning environment where children's curiosities are nurtured and learning is discovered through shared explorations. We are a non-religious school that welcomes families from all backgrounds and experiences.
Who Chooses First Pres?
First Pres, 65+ Years of Trusted Early Childhood Education
Founded in 1959 as a private, not-for-profit school that welcomes families from all backgrounds and experiences, First Pres has seen Santa Monica change from a small coastal town to an urban city. In the midst of this transformation, the school has remained a nurturing environment for early childhood education within the community. Enhancing this sense of continuity is the fact that many families return generation after generation, supported by teachers and staff who have been a part of the educational team for decades.
Curiosity & Inquiry that Inspires Learning
Daily life at First Pres is a meaningful intersection of relationships, where children help carry out daily life routines and manage experiences. These opportunities form the core of the curriculum throughout the school and give context to explorations, studies and projects while fostering autonomy and empathy towards the environment, materials and peers. Explorations are opportunities to learn about materials, play with ideas, while studies are organized to understand an idea and information in-depth and apply different thought processes while considering other points of view.
Our Practice Inspired by the Reggio Approach
- Learning Together
- Learning Made Visible
- Learning Environment
- Materials and Children
- Teachers as Researchers
A School Where Parents, Teachers and Children Learn Together
School-wide experiences such as community sings, classroom meetings, cultural celebrations and family conferences provide opportunities for adults' and children's perspectives to come together. Round table discussions, Parent Association initiatives and parent workdays provide more occasions for us to think together about the context and relationships that form our school.
Learning Made Visible
Visibility of children's work in progress is viewed as an important tool in understanding how children are thinking, learning and developing and helps parents and teachers to understand steps they can take to support them. Observing and interpreting ongoing experiences create a context of a deep learning process that supports both the teacher and child as researcher and investigator.
An Environment that Supports Learning & Relationships
Thoughtfully organized and prepared, the environment is considered the "third teacher" through the visibility and messages it conveys that guide and suggest possibilities for using materials, spaces and learning from others. Dynamic and changing over time, the many spaces of school take inspiration from the children's "way of living" in the environment and support opportunities that can arise.
Materials and the Many Languages of Children
Wire, paint, clay, drawing media among other materials have properties that help support communication and thinking in diverse ways. Learning about and interacting with materials allows children to build a working knowledge about their affordances and use them to explore topics, develop skills and build knowledge about subjects and ideas they are exploring.
Teachers as Researchers
Teachers at First Pres have years of experience, education and insight about children, learning and their development. They carefully listen, observe and document children's work, provoke, and build next steps with children in order to stimulate thinking and collaboration with their peers and build relationships. As a result, the role of the teacher is that of a researcher who is constantly learning alongside the children, building next steps and relationships with the children.
Generations of Santa Monica Parents Share Their Experiences
Rated 5 out of 5
Made With Love
in Santa Monica
Since 1959, our not-for-profit school has been a pillar of our community, welcoming families from every background into the First Pres family.
Our coastal surroundings become a building block of wonder for our children, inspiring questions and projects daily. At First Pres, parents, children, and teachers learn together - generation after generation.
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