The Lord has blessed our church with the opportunity to minister to the children and families of The Village Church Nursery School. The school employs 16 teachers and 2 staff members. All are hard working and extremely dedicated to our school. Currently there are 200 students involved in the Parent & Toddler programs, half-day classes for two, three and four year olds, and full-day four year old class. Pamela Miller continues as the full-time director.
Consistent with our heritage, the curriculum is play based with academics intermingled where the children are ready for it. There are Christian books in the classrooms, and Christian lessons are a part of the classroom curriculum. The music program is under the direction of Monica Conway, and is a highlight for the children. Additionally, the students go to Chapel monthly in the Sanctuary and participate in age appropriate lessons.
The Village Church Nursery School is financially sound, and has run a profit for the past 3 years. A salary and tuition increase has been recommended for the coming year.
In the fall of 2007, in order to accommodate church construction, we moved out of some church space, divided an existing classroom, and decreased our enrollment in several classes. We anticipate lower enrollment again in fall ’08 due to families’ concern over church construction. It will be challenging to manage the construction process, and will require regular communication between the school parents and the church administration.
The rebuilding of the playground will be extremely important to the school, as our playground is a point of difference versus other schools. The plan is for the new playground to be safe yet physically challenging, and maintain its natural feel. Construction and completion is planned for summer 2008, yet considerable work needs to be done to realize this schedule.
The Village Connection provides opportunities for parents to become more involved in the school. It is our hope that an increasing number of collaborations with the church and school will encourage parents to be more involved in the church as well. The Village Connection also sponsors the spring family picnic and the teacher lunches. Funds for this group come from monthly fund raisers at local restaurants and e-Script donations.
Bringing more nursery school families into our church family continues to be a huge opportunity, as currently approximately only 10% of nursery school families attend our Church. Joint programs between the church and the school in the past have brought only a modest success. This fall a parenting speaker did result in good midweek attendance, and several families signed up for a parenting class taught by Jay Shirley. We will be offering a similar church sponsored speaker with childcare this spring. However, a contemporary Sunday morning worship service appears to be the single greatest thing we can do to appeal to young families.
It is our prayer that The Village Church Nursery School will continue to minister to our community of children and families in an ever increasing and meaningful way.
Respectfully submitted,
Heidi Shepherd